
Glass— 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



, „, r^P^ 



■*.o^ ) f ■ • y-r^ - '. ■^^fr^.o-»-° 



-^^EMANCIPATION ■> 



Its Course and Progress, 



I^ZESOIvC l-4en. E. C to .^. I3. 1375, 



With a Review of 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATIONS, 



THE XIII AMENDMENT, 



Progress of the Freed People since Emancipation 



With a History of 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT : 

BY JOS, T. WILSON. /j^Qy Y7 !8B2j 

> ■"--^ 



^^^VO. 



HAMPTON, VA.: 
Normal School Steain Po%uer Press Print. 
1882. 



<1.^0-1AAA 



Er46"3 



Copyrighted 

BY JOSEPH T. WILSON, 

1882. 

All rights reserved. 



PREFATORY. 



With some leisure, it has been my wonted pleasure to aid in 
making several of the news-papers published in the interest of the 
Freedmen interesting, by gratuitous contributions of letters on 
general, local events, and important stibjects. 

They may not have been scholarly writtett, as their author is 
but a student, yet, that they, or some of them were interesting is 
to be inferred from the fact that not unfrequently , they have been 
copied in foreign publications. 

The substance of the pages which follow were prepared for 
publication in one of the papers referred to above, during the 
Christmas and New Year holidays of 1881 and 1882, but early zn 
October, 188 i, the editor found it necessary to suspoid the publica- 
tion of" Thomas" contributions — though solicited — as they were 
offensive to a class of politicians who do not favor the Negroes' 
advanceme7it educationally^politically— consequently, rather than 
chance the ground-work of these pages going into a waste-basket, 
they were published in a pamphlet, November, 1881. The edition 
zvas immediately taken. Now yicldifig to the importmiities of 
friends, and to supply the demand for informatioti upon the sub- 
ject of Emancipation, and to give a full, yet succinct account of 
its progress and effects, I have revised, enlarged, and recodified 
the work which I submit to a generous public, hoping its contents 
may pro^ie of interest to the reader and help preserve the records 
of the achievement of man's highest ambition on Earth — Eman- 

cii>atio7t. 

J. T. W. 
Norfolk, Va., July, 1882. 



DEDICATION 



TO THE YOUTH OF THE PRESENT GENERATION, 

A RECORD 

OF THE DELIVERANCE OF THEIR ANCESTORS FROM 

BONDAGE AND OPPRESSION, 

THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 



CONTENTS 



PREFATORY 

CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY 



Page. 
.... 3 

••• 5 
... 7 



Emajtcifiation hi 

Austria 

Brazil 

Britain 

Buenos Ayres 

Burmah 

Bolivia ' 

Ceylon 

Chili ^^^^''^'''y'"'[[['"[[[.'. 

Columbia 

Cape Colony 

Cuba 

Denmark 

Egypt 

France 

Guaieuiala 

Hayti 

Java 

IMexico 

Malacca 

Montevideo 

Porto Rico 

Portugal 

Peru 

Prussia 

Russia 

Spain 

Tunis 

United States 

Uraguay ■^^ 

Emancipation poem 

Emancipation, its Cause and Progress '.'....'.' g8 

Since Emancipation g 

Emancipation Monument 

Emancipation by the Indians 

Emancipation Proclamations 

Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment 

Number of Slaves Emancipated 

Declaration of Independence 

Constitution of the United States 



... 13 

... 31 
II— IS 

• 13 

•• 13 

.. IS 

•• 13 

■• 13 

•• 13 

•• 13 



12 

13 21 

.. 13 

•• 13 

• 13 

•■ 32 

■• 32 

■■ 13 



IS7 
194 
204 
210 

213 
216 



INTRODUCTORY. 



This work is intended to supply a need the author believes 
exists generally, regarding the more iniporta^it acts and events of 
the abolition of slavery, and to avoid searching through numer- 
ous histories therefor as is now the case. It is not a history of 
Emancipation, but a codification of the several acts by which the 
institution of slavery, peonage, vassalage and serfdom, or what 
other name may be used to signify oppression, has been abolished 
in the several cotmtries of the civilized world. 

In sevet al cases the bare date of the act is mentioned, while 
lengthy conwtent is made upon others. Where slavery died almost 
of itself, mtat tended by serious opposition, or existed nominally, 
comment is deemed unnecessary. 

That some acts are omitted is evident, since no special record 
has been kept of the Emancipation in many minor states and 
kingdoms in Asia, Africa, and the Isles of the Seas. 

A review of abolition in this country affords informatioti 
that the general reader can obtain only from the voluminous re- 
ports of Congress and histories of the late war, running through 
a period of years. A contrast of the Emancipation in Russia with 
that in the United States, can be drawn almost minutely by the 
comments made. It is rather to aid ifi correcting an error of 
many, especially the Ereedmen, who celebrate the ist day of Jaji- 
uary as the birth of their freedotn, because, on that day the Presi- 
dent, as Commander of the army and navy, issued his proclamation 
of Ematicipation, that a cursory review of the ijth Amendynent 
is given. A full account of the Etyiancipation Monutnent is giv- 
en to show the appreciation of the Ereedmen of their freedom : 
the author being a member of the unveiling committee and present 
at the ceremonies, is enabled to be accurate in giving an accotint 
of the same. 

The chapter " Since Emancipatioft," is from the pen of 
Hejtry A. Monroe, a young and ardent Methodist preacher, of 
Maryland, editor of "The Standard Bearer," and "The Confer- 
ence Standard." 

Emancipation by the Indians: — This information was not 
obtained in time to appear in its proper place, but the author 
thought best to insert the article rather than omit it altogether. 



EMANCIPATION, 



Of the causes and revolutions which men, from the 
earliest period of recorded time engaged in, none seems 
so memorable as the abolition of slavery, no event, save 
that of the coming — the birth of the Saviour — is so re- 
joiced in as that of the abolition of slavery, by the civ- 
ilized nations, and rightly so ; of the crimes mentioned 
in the decalogue, human slavery takes rank of them all. 

History fails to give the date or period of the be- 
ginning of slavery; the world consequently is ignorant 
of when it began; the sacred history records', the sale 
-'■'^°- of Joseph. Some writers claim this to be the begin- 

B C ^ 

ning, but whether it was or not it matters but little, 
since now it seems contined to the dark continent of 
Africa, and it, civilization is now assaulting with all 
its mighty force of learning, culture, and enterprise. 
However, it has been one of the institutions of 
, every clime and country, in every part of the globe. 
It was thought that Australasia was an exception, but 
when the tests of civilization were applied, Australa- 
sia had her slaves, as well as Rome. It seems it was 
the ruling passion of man, regardless of color or race, 
throughout the darkages,to enslave his fellow man, for 
the same cause and upon the same basis that they buy 



10 EMANCIPATION : 

and sell each other in Africa. Slavery was the rule 
as a punishment dealt to all conquered tribes, races and 
nations. 

Individual emancipation was not even in the ear- 
liest days an uncommon thing, but of races and nations,, 
seldom — if ever. 

Civilization and freedom evidently march side 
and side ; victory for one means victory for the other, 
and the nations barbaric, in turn, that have had to 
deal with it, that have felt the oppressors' power, now 
rejoice in freedom — though perhaps it cost more of 
blood and treasure than any other cause man ever en- 
gaged in. The price of freedom in our own country, 
expensive as it was in lives and money, is not to be 
compared, does not approximate, will not add a cipher 
to its cost to the Eastern nations. 

Though no knowledge of its beginning, the chron- 
iclers have kept record of its abolition, and thus runs 
the record of the more important epochs. 
1491. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and 
' * commanded him to go to Egypt, and there he performed 
many miracles, and inflicted ten successive plagues on 
Pharaoh, consequently the iron-hearted monarch al- 
lowed the Israelites to depart for a land of freedom, 
they having completed their four hundred and thirtieth 
year of sojourning in Egypt. Moses, their leader, led 
them to the shore of tlie Red Sea, and God opened a 
passage through the Sea, and the Israelites passed 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 11 

through and into the desert Etham, by which means 
they became free. 

Britain — Slavery existed when it entered into his. 

tory, and continued till long after the conquest, though 

in a milder form than when first known. 
fi70 
^QQ* Through the influence of the Church under Arch- 

A. D. bishop Theodore,who first governed the English Church 
emancipation became frequent by luill and by authority 
of the church. St. Wilfred, a Saxon bishop, manumit- 
ted all the slaves on his estates. The clergy in council 
at Calcuith, agreed that at their decease their slaves 
should be free. Eventuallj^ the slave trade was prohib- 
ited; England had been furnisiiing slaves to the pirates 
— kidnappers that visited her coast — and they the slave 
markets of the East ; notwithstanding its prohibition 
it was not until during the reign of the first Norman 
king that the trade was interdicted. 

^-.02 The areat council of England decreed the abolition 

of slavery. Yet Britons were carried into Ireland and 

sold until the Irish parliament passed the memorable 

1171 

"decree of mercy ^ giving freedom to all the English 

slaves in Ireland ; this prevented further importation 
and destroyed the trade. 

Isabella, Queen of Spain, decreed all the North A- 
'merican Indians in her European possessions free. 
Hundreds of Indians had been transported thither by 
the reputed discoverers of the Western Continent — Co- 
lumbus, and other voyagers immediately following 
him — and sold into slavery. 



12 emancipation: 

1553. To John Hawkins is due, by the record, the credit 
of inaugurating the traffic in African slaves and their 
introduction into the English colonies in the new world. 
The government of England,the Crown, and merchants 
of Southampton, all shared in the lucrative Guinea 

slave trade. 

1769 

The British Courts of Justice held "That every 

slave was free as soon as he set foot upon British 

ground.'' 

1776 

The Prussian edict abolishing slavery. 

1792. Denmark — abolished both the foreign slave trade 
and the importation of slaves into her colonies, the 
prohibition to take effect in 1804. 

1793. Hayti — The liberation of slaves in this State was 
by commissioners appointed by the French government 
at Paris as Charge de affairs of the Island of St. Domin- 
go. Their proclamation was ratified by the assembly 
and made valid in 1794, though the English were then 
in possession of the coast. 

In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte, as first Consul of 
France and sanctioned by the legislature thereof, land- 
ed an army at Samana for the purpose of re-enslaving 
the Negro inhabitants of this State, but the heroism of 
the Freedmen defeated the army, and to this day they 
remain free. 

The French manumission decree abolishing jSTegro 

1794. , 

slavery in St. Domingo, Hayti, Cayenne, Guadaloupe, 

Martinique. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 13 

1811. Java. 

1815. Ceylon. 

1816 Buenos Ayres, St. Helena. 

1820 Chilly Columbia. 

-1090 Cape Colony. 

1825 Malacca. 

-.QQp. His Imperial Majesty of Austria promulgated the 

following ordinance prohibiting slavery in Austrian 
territory: 

"In order to prevent Austrian subjects and vassals from partici- 
pating in any manner in the slave trade, and in order to pre- 
vent slaves from bad treatment, his Imperial and Royal Majesty 
in conformity with the existing laws of Austria, which determ- 
ines that every human being in virtue of those rights which are 
recognized by reason, is to be considered a civil person, and 
that, therefore, slavery and every exercise of power relative to 
the state of slavery.are not tolerated in the Imperial and Royal 
dominions, and further,in conformity with section 78, of the first 
part of \. he penal code, which declares every hindrance of the 
exercise of personal liberty a crime of public violence, has been 
graciously pleased by his Sovereign resolution of June 26, 1826, 
to determine and order as follows: Art. i. Any slave from the 
moment he treads on the soil of the Imperial and Royal Do- 
minions of Austria, or even merely steps on board of an Austrian 
vessel, shall be free." 

Burmah, Bolivia. 

1828 

Pe?'u, Guatemala, Montevideo. 

1829. Mexico. For several years the people of this country 
strove to emancipate their siaves,beginning with a pro- 
hibitory enactment against importation of slaves into 
any of the Mexican States, which their Congress enact- 



14 EMANCIPATION : 

ed in 1823, and again in 1824 freed all slaves brought 
into the country. The states of Coahuila and Texas in 
1829 enacted that no child should be born a slave with- 
in their geographical limits. 

The President of the United Mexican States issued 
t he following decree abolishing slavery in Mexico: 

"To The Inhabitants of the Republic. 

Be it known that in the year 1829, being desirous of signali- 
zing the anniversary of our independence by an act of national 
justice and beneficence, which may contribute to the strength 
and support of such inestimable welfare as to secure more and 
more the public tranquility, and reinstate an unfortunate por- 
tion of our inhabitants in the sacred rights granted them by 
nature, and may be protected by the nation, under wise and 
just laws according to the provision in article 30 of the consti- 
tutive act, availing myself of the extraordinary faculties gran- 
ted me, I have thought proper to decree 

1st, That slavery be exterminated in the Republic. 

2d, Consequently those are free, who, up to this day, have 
been looked upon as slaves. 

3d, Whenever the circumstances of the Dublic treasury 
will show it, the owners of slaves shall be indemnified, in the 
manner which the laws shall provide. 

Jose Maria De Bocanegra. 
Mexico, September i^th,i82g,A. D. 

The great difficulty in abolishing slavery in Mexi- 
co was its adjacency to the slave holding portion of 
the United States and the foreign population in that 
country as land speculators,the validity of whose claims 
rested upon a division of the country and the perma- 
nent establishment of slavery therin; the sea coastand 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 15 

the states of Texas and Caroliua, were in the hands 
and not long after under the control of this class of for- 
eigners through native influence, influenced by pros- 
pective gain to accrue Irom slave labor in the cultiva- 
tion of cotton. That they were successful, in part at 
least,may be seen by what followed the independence of 
Texas and her annexation to the United States; before 
however she was annexed, her constitution fully sets 
forth in this language, section 10: "All persons, (Afri- 
cans, and descendants of Africans and Indians except- 
ed) who are residing in Texas on the day of the declara,- 
tion of independence, (a great portion of the native 
Mexican citizens are of course excluded) shall be con- 
sidered citizens of the Republic, and entitled to all the 
privileges of such." This section was preceded by one 
which gave to citizens of the United States the ri2:ht to 
bring their slaves into the Republic and hold them, and 
excluded free Negroes from the territory, thus, notwith- 
standing the emancipation of Mexican slaves, citizens 
of the United States by the aid of the United States 
government, succeeded in wresting Texas from Mexico 
and establishing slavery therein. 

The testimony of authentic history attests the no- 
torious fact, thatthe African slave trade was carried on 
by the British nation for more than two centuries un- 
der the patronage of its government, protected by char- 
ters of monopoly and public treaties, not only for the 
supply of her own colonies, but those of Spain and 
1713.France. The memorable treaty of Utrecht, between 



16 EMANCIPATION : 

Great Britain and Spain regulating commerce and nav- 
igation, by which the Spanish war of succession was 
terminated, the balance of power in Europe confirmed, 
granted to her Britanic Majesty, and her South Sea 
Company, exclusively, with Spain, the contract to im- 
port African slaves into parts of his Catholic Majesty's 
dominion in America, at the rate of 4800 yearly. 

It was not until Thomas Clarkson succeeded in 
calling the attention of Parliament to this odious traf- 
fic in 1786,three years after the American war had closed 
and peace declared,that even a voice was raised against 
it in Britain, and it was sometime after this before 
Clarkson and Wilberforce organized a society for :he 
abolition of the African slave trade. In Great Britain 
there were no slaves, the famous decision of the Brit- 
ish Courts of justice, 1769, decreeing "That every 
slave was free as soon as he had set foot upon British 
ground," emancipated all the slaves in Britain, but not 
those in the West Indian colonies; however the people 
in Britain became aroused and demanded the interdict- 
ion of the trade, a petition signed by three fourths of a 
million of women was presented to Parliament, asking 
its abolition, which was strongly opposed by the mari- 
time power of the country, a trade so lucrative was not 
easily overthrown, but finally, after a half century of 
agitation, Parliament passed an act, abolishing it in 
1806, but the trade was not fully interdicted until the 
treaty between Great Britain and the United States 
was signed, 1814. With the suppression of the slave trade 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. IT 

1833.the freedom of the slave was demanded and the Parlia- 
ment passed the following Act: 

loo4. „gg j^ enacted, that all and every of the persons, who, on 
the first day of August one thousand eight hundred and 
thirty four, shall be holden in slav^ery within such British Col- 
ony as aforesaid, shall, upon, and from and after the first day 
of August, 1834, become and be to all intents and purposes, 
FRf.E and discharged of and from all manner of slavery, and 
shall be absolutely and for ever manumitted; and that the 
children thereafter to be born to any such persons, and the off- 
spring of such children shall in like manner be free from their 
birth; and that from and after the first day of August. 1834, slav- 
ery shall be and is hereby utterly and for ever abolished and 
declared unlawful throughout the British Colonies, Plantations 
and possessions abroad." Act of 3 and 4, William IV. 

The emancipation cost the government £20,000,- 
000 : the owners of the slaves were recompensed. This 
emancipation however was not immediate and uncon- 
ditional, what was called an apprentice system took: 
the place of slavery, thus making emancipation gradu- 
al; the freed people by it were required to work six 
years for their former masters without wages, except 
one day and a half in each week, which time was theirs 
to work for themselves; this apprenticeship did not 
prove profitable to theplanters,and many of them gave 
immediate freedom to their slaves and hired them. The 
English people became so dissatisfied with the treat- 
ment of the apprentices, by the planters who accepted 
the system, that they petitioned Parliament for the im- 
mediate emancipation of the apprentices. Parliament 



18 EMANCIPATION : 

1838.passed the immediate Emancipation Act giving free- 
dom to all the apprentices and their posterity, forever. 
The following is the speech of Victobia Regina to 
the Parliament Feburary 3, 1839. 

"Mv Lords and Gentlemen: — 

It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to inform 
you, that throughout the whole of my West Indian possessions^ 
the period fixed by law for the final and complete emancipa- 
tion of tne Negroes has been anticipated by the acts of Coloni- 
al legislature, and that the transition from the temporary sys- 
tem of apprenticeship to entire freedom, has taken place with- 
out any disturbance of public order and tranquility. Any meas- 
ures which may be necessary in order to give full effect to this 
great and beneficial change will, I have no doubt, receive your 
careful attention." 

The Acts included the following Isles : Jamaica, 
Barbadoes, the Bermudas,Bahama, Anquilla, Mauriti- 
us, St. Christopher, Nevis, Virgin Island, Antigua, 
Montserrat, Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenada, Berbice, 
Tobago, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Honduras, Demerara, Es- 
sequibo and the Cape of Good Hope, and three Colonies 
in the East Indies. 

The pride with which the English People looked 
upon the freeing of the slaves and the eiFect it had up- 
on the localities where it took place can best be told by 
English writers. Mr. Fyfe, in his British Enterprise 
Beyond the Seas^ says — 

" The story of the agitation against slavery in Eng- 
land, which was conducted by Clarksou, Wilberforce, 
Buxton, Brougham, and others, is so well known that 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 19 

it reed not be re-told heie. The piojoeal to deprive 
slave holding of its legality, not merely in the mother 
country, where the principle of emancipation had al- 
ready been acknowledged, bnt in every nook and corner 
of the British dominions, was, of course, received with 
the most passionate opposition in the West India Islands. 
Nothing could be more gloomy or repelling than the 
pictures which the planters drew of the rapine and li- 
centiousness into which the Negroes would plunge when 
restored to their legitimate position as human beings. 
Fortunately neither such predictions nor the heavy 
price which had to be paid in compensation to the slave 
o wners could deter the British Parliament trom authori 
zing that great measure which fills one of the proudest 
pages in our annals. A gift of £ 20,000,000 sterling 
to the " West India interest " purchased the freedom of 
the slaves in those parts. A six years' apprenticeship 
formed an intermediate stage between slavery and ab- 
solute liberty. A large proportion of the negroes cele- 
brated tbe hour of their emancipation by a solemn thanks- 
giving. There were no outbreaks of revenge ; there 
was no license, no rapine. As was to be expected, how- 
ever, the unfortunate blacks did not for years learn the 
blessings of voluntary industry. As long as they 
had enough to eat and drink they would not work ; 
and " Quashy up to the eyes in pumpkins" became a 
type of sloth and sensual enjoyment of the lowest kind. 
This was the natural result of the period ot degradation 
through which* they had passed. It is cheering to 



20 EMANCIPATION : 

know that this state of things has almost passed away. 
Jamaica is recovering its enterprise and prosperity, and 
the colored population is not the least intelligent and 
industrious portion of the community. The colony now 
comprises fifteen thousand whites and two hundred and 
Mty thousand colored people, and the latter are ad- 
mitted to a voice in the administration of the island. 

The soil of Jamaica is very fertile, and the scenery 
is lovely beyond description. From one end of the is- 
land to the other runs a huge back-bone of lofty and 
precipitous mountains, whose gaunt black sides are cloth- 
ed with forest. Beneath these rise rich green hills, 
crowned with feathery palms, beef trees with leaves of 
the blood-red hue of raw flesh, gigantic silk-cotton trees ,. 
cocoa-nut and orange groves. Below, plantations and 
I^egro villages are mingled on the plain. Here you may 
see a sugar estate, with its white houses, tall chimneys, 
busy wind and water wheels, and waving fields of dark - 
green cane, tipped, perhaps, with lilac blossoms. There, 
meadows of golden guinea-grass, and Negro villages, 
peeping through bowers of plaintainand oananas,meet 
the eye. On a lower level you come upon a beach of 
glistening sands, which looks like snow in contrast to 
the black patches of mangrove. The deep blue sea, 
from the placid bosom of which springs this land of 
beauty, the bright unclouded sky which overhangs it, 
and the intense sunlight which illumines it, add to the 
enchantment of the scene. Yet this charming lands- 
cape has its dark side, too, in deserted plantations, with 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 21 

offices in ruins, and fields over which the primitive for- 
est has begun to resume its sway. These gloomy fea- 
tures are, however growing rarer every year. Reviv- 
ing enterprise is building up again the crumbling walls, 
and restoring the neglected acres to cultivation. " 

1842. The Bashaw of Tunis forbade the slaves in his vast 
realm being sold,and closed all the slave marts;he inau- 
gurated measures for the emancipation of all the slaves 
in his realm. He said,'"I began with pleasure the abolit- 
ion of slavery, and I will not cease to prosecute the 
great work of emancipation, until I have completely 
extirpated slavery from my dominions." He freed all 
his own slaves, and many of his courtiers followed his 
example until the work of emancipation was completed. 
Uraguay. A decree of the government said : "From 
and after the promulgation of the present resolution* 
there shall be no slaves in this Republic." 

1859. Java. The Dutch government decreed the freedom 
of all slaves, in all their colonies. 

1863. Emancipation of the serfs in all the Russias. 

"I have had occasion, formall3^,to remind the Sen- 
ate how completely the Emperor has done his work. 
Not content with issuing the decree of Emancipation, 
he has proceeded, by an elaborate system of regulations, 
to provide in the first place, for what have been called 
the Civil Rights of all the recent serfs; then, again, to i 
provide for their rights in property, securing to every 
one of them a homestead; and then, again,by providing 
for them rights of public education. Added to all 
these he has secured to them also political rights, giv- 



22 EMANCIPATION : 

ing to every one the right to vote for all local officers, 
corresponding to our officers of the town and of the 
county. It is this very thoroughness with which he 
has carried out his decree of Emancipation." 

Sumner^ U. S. Senate. 
This speech fully explains the decree, in its munif- 
icence. A minute account of the course and obstacles 
preceding Emancipation, together with a glance of the 
emancipated serfs' conduct thereafter, since Russian 
serfdom bore such an analogous relation to American 
slavery, may not be uninteresting to the reader. Under 
the head oi'-'- Emayicipation " Mr. Dixon in Free Russia 
says: 

"On the day when Alexander the Second came to his crown, 
( 1855), both lord and serf expected from his hands some great 
and healing act. The peasants trusted him, the nobles feared 
him. A panic seized upon the landlords. '• What," they cried ^ 
" do you expect } The country is disturbed ; our property will 
be destroyed. Look at these louts whom you talk of rendering 
free ! They can neither read nor write ; they have no capital ; 
they have no credit; they have no enterprise. When they are 
not praying they are getting drunk. A change may do in the 
Polish provinces ; in the heart of Russia, never! " The Govern- 
ment met this storm in the higher circles by pacific words 
and vigorous acts ; the Emperor saying to every one 
whom his voice could reach that the peril lay in doing nothing, 
not in doing much. Slowly but surely his opinion made its way. 

Addressee from the several provinces came in. Commit- 
tees of advice were formed, and the Emperor sought to engage 
the most active and liberal spirits in his task. When the pub- 
lic mind was opened to new lights, a grand committee was 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS- 



2a 



named in St. Petersburg, consisting of the ministers of state, 
and a few members of the imperial council, over whom his 
majesty undertook to preside. A second body, called the re- 
porting committee, was also n^med, under the presidency of 
Count Rostovtsef, one of the pardoned rebels of 1825. The 
grand committee studied the principles which ought to govern 
emancipation ; the reporting committee studied and arranged 
the facts. A mighty heap of papers was collected ; eighteen 
volumes of facts and figures were printed ; and the net results 
were thrown into a draft. 

The reporting committee having done their work, two 
bodies of delegates from provinces, elected by the lords, were 
invited to meet in the capital and consider this draft. These 
provincial delegates raised objections, which they sent in writ- 
ing to the committee ; and the new articles drawn up by them 
were laid before the Emperor and the grand committee in an 
amended draft. 

Up to this point the draft was in the hands of nobles and 
land-owners ; who drew it up in their class-interests, and ac- 
cording to their class-ideas. If it recognized the serf's right to 
personal freedom, it denied him any rights in the soil. This 
principle of " liberty without land " was the battle-cry of all 
parties in the upper ranks ; and many persons knew that such 
was the principle laid down in the late Emperor's secret and a- 
bortive act. How could a committee of landlords, trembling 
for their rents, do otherwise.' "Emancipation, if we must," 
they sighed, "but emancipation without the land." The pro- 
vincial delegates stoutly urged this principle; the reporting 
committee embodied it in their draft. Supported by these two 
bodies, it came before the grand committee. England, France, 
and Germany were cited : and as the villeins in those countries 
had received no grants of lands, it was resolved that the eman- 
cipated serfs should have no grants of land. The grand com - 



EMANCIPATION : 24 

■mittee passed the amended draft. 

Then, happily, the man was found. Whatev'er these scribes 
could say, the Emperor knew that forty-eight millions of his 
people looked to him for justice ; and that every man in those 
forty-eight millions felt that his right in the soil was just as 
good as that of the Emperor in his crown. He saw that free- 
dom without the means of living would be to the peasant a fatal 
gift. Unwilling to see a popular revolution turned into the 
movement of a class, he would not consent to make men pau- 
l pers by the act which pretended to make them free. " Liberty 
and land " — that was the Alexandrine principle ; a golden pre- 
cept which he held against the best and oldest councillors in 
his court. 

The acts of his committees left him one course, and only 
one. He could appeal to a higher court. Some members of 
the grand committee, knowing their master's mind, had voted 
against the draft; and now the Emperor laid that draft before 
the full council, on the ground that a measure of such impor- 
tance should not be settled in a lower assembly by a divided 
vote. Again he met with selfish views. The full council con- 
sists of princes, counts, and generals — old men mostly — who 
have little more to expect from the crown, and every reason to 
look after the estates they have acquired. They voted against 
the Emperor and the serfs. 

When all seemed lost, however, the fight was won. Not 
until the full council had decided to adopt the draft, could the 
Emperor be persuaded to use his power and to save his country ; 
but on the morrow of their vote, the prince, in his quality of 
autocrat, declared that the principle of " Liberty and land " was 
the principle of his emancipation act. 

On the third of March, 1861 (Feb. 19, O. S. ), the emanci- 
V pation act was signed. 

The rustic population then consisted of twenty-two millions 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 25 

of common serfs, three millions of appanage peasants, and 
twenty-three millions of crown peasants. The first class were 
enfranchised by that act ; and a separate law has since been 
passed in favor of these crown peasants and appanage peasants, 
who are now as free in fact as they formerly were in name. 

A certain portion of land, varying in different provinces 
according to soil and climate, was affixed to every "soul ;" and 
government aid was promised to the peasants in buying their 
homesteads and allotments. The serfs were not slow to take 
this hint. Down to January i, 1869, more than half the enfran- 
chised male serfs have taken advantage of this promise ; and 
the debt now owing from the people to the crown ( that is, to 
the bondholders) is an enormous sum. 

The Alexandrine principle of " liberty and land " being 
made the governing rule of the emancipation act, all reasonable 
fear lest the rustic, in receiving his freedom, might at once go 
wandering, was taken into account. Nobody knew how far the 
serf had been broken of those nomadic habits which le i to 
serfage. Every one felt some doubt as to whether he could live 
with liberty and law ; and rules were framed to prevent the 
return to those anarchies which had forced the crown to "settle" 
the country under Boris Godunof and Peter the Great. These 
restrictive rules were nine in number: ( i. ) a peasant was not to 
quit his village unless he gave up, once and forever, his share 
of the communal lands; (2.) in case of the commune refusing 
to accept his portion, he was to yield his plot to the general 
landlord ; ( 3. ) he must have met his liabilities, if any, to the 
Emperor's recruiting officers ; (4.) he must have paid up all ar- 
rears of local and imperial rates, and also paid in advance such 
taxes for the current year ; ( 5.) he must have satisfied all pri- 
vate claims, fulfilled all personal contracts, under the authority 
of his cantonal administration ; (6. ) he must be free from legal 
judgment and pursuit; (7.) he must provide for the mainte- 



26 emancipation: 

nance of all such members of his family to be left in the com- 
mune, as from either youth or age might become a burden to 
his village ; fS.) he must make good any arrears of rent which 
may be due on his allotment to the lord ; (9.) he must produce 
either a resolution passed by some other commune, admitting 
him as a member, or a certificate, properly signed, that he has 
bought the freehold of a plot of land, equal to two allotments, 
not above ten miles distant from the commune named. These 
rules — which are provisional only — are found to tie a peasant 
with enduring .strictness to his fields. 

The question, whether the serf is so far cured of his Tartar 
habit that he can live a settled life without being bound to his 
patch of ground, is still unasked. The answer to that question 
must come with time, province by province and town by town. 
Nature is slow, and habit is a growth. Reform must wait on 
nature, and observe her laws. 

As in all such grand reforms, the parties most affected by 
the change were much dissatisfied at first. The serf had got 
too much ; the lords had kept too much. In many provinces 
the peasants refused to hear the imperial rescript read in church. 
They said the priest was keeping them in the dark ; for, ruled 
by the nobles, and playing a false part against the Emperor, he 
was holding back the real letters of liberation, and reading them 
papers forged by their lords. Fanatics and impostors took ad- 
vantage of their discontent to excite sedition, and these fanat- 
ics and impostors met with some success in provinces occupied 
by the Poles and Malo-Russ. 

Two of these risings were important. At the village of 
Bezdna, province of Kazan, one Anton Petrof announced him- 
self as a prophet of God and an ambassador from the Tsar. He 
told the peasants that they were now free men, and that their 
good Emperor had given them all the land. Four thousand 
rustics followed him about ; and when General Count Apraxine, 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 27 

overtaking the mob and calling upon them to give up their 
leader, and disperse under pain of being instantly shot down, 
the poor fellows cried, "We shall not give him up ; we are all 
for the Tsar." Apraxine gave the word to fire ; a hundred men 
dropped down with bullets in their bodies -fifty-one dead, the 
others badly hurt. In horror of this butchery, the people cried' 
" You are firing into Alexander Nicolaivitch himself ! "' Petrof 
was taken, tried by court martial, and shot in the presence of 
his stupefied friends, who could not understand that a soldier 
was doing his duty to the crown by firing into masses of 
unarmed men. 

A more singular and serious rising of serfs took place in 
the rich province of Penza, where a strange personage pro- 
claimed himself the Grand Duke Constantine, brother of Nico- 
las, once a captive. Affecting radical opinions, the "grand 
duke " raised a red flag, collected bands of peasants, and alarm- 
ed the country far and near. A body of soldiers, sent against them 
by General Dreniakine, vrere received with clubs and stones, 
and forced to run away. Dreniakine marched against the rebels, 
and in a smart action he depersed them through the steppe, 
after killing eight and seriously maiming twenty-six. The 
-grand duke " was suffered to get av/ay. The country was much 
excited by the rising, and on Easter Sunday General Dreniakine 
telegraphed to St. Petersburg his duty to the minister, and ask- 
ed for power to punish the revolters by martial law. The can- 
ister sent him orders to act according to his iudgrnent ; and he 
began to flog and shoot the villagers until order was restored 
within the limits of his command. The "grand duke" was 
denounced a.s one Egortsof, a Milk-Drinker; and Dreniakine 
soon afterwards spread a report that he was dead. 

The agitation was not stilled until the Emperor himself ap- 
peared on the scene. On his way to Yalta he convoked a meet- 
ing of elders, to whom he addressed a few wise and solacin.o- 



28 EMANCIPATION : 

words ; " I have given you all the liberties defined by the stat- 
utes." It was the very first time these peasants had heard of 
their Emperor's will being limited by law." 

Bayard Taylor, the great Poet, thus sings of this 
great act : 

A thousand years, through storm and fire, 
With varying fate, the work has grown, 

Till Alexander crowns the spire 
Where Rurik laid the corner-stone. 

The chieftain's sword that could not rust, 

But bright in constant battle grew, 
Raised to the world a throne august, — 

A nation grander than he knew. 

Nor he alone ; but those who have. 

Through faith or deed, an equal part, — 

The subtle brain of Yaroslav 

Vladimir's arm and Nikon's heart, — 

The later hands that built so well 

The work sublime which these began, 

And up from base to pinnacle 

Wrought out the Empire's mighty plan, — 

All these to-day are crowned anew. 
And rule in splendor where they trod, 

While Russia's children throng to view 
Her holy cradle. Novgorod, — 

From Volga's banks, from Dwina's side. 
From pine-clad Ural, dark and long. 

Or where the foaming Terek's tide 

Leaps down from Kasbek, bright with song. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 29 

From Altai's chain of mountain-cones, 

Mongolian deserts far and free. 
And lands that bind, through changing zones, 

The Eastern and the Western Sea. 

To every race she gives a home. 

And creeds and laws enjoy her shade. 
Till far beyond the dreams of Rome 

Her Caesar's mandate is obey'd. 

She blends the virtues they impart, 

And holds within her life combined 
The patient faith of Asia's heart, 

The force of Europe's restless mind. 

She bids the nomad's wandering cease. 

She binds the wild marauder fast ; 
Her ploughshares turn to homes of peace 

The battle-fields of ages past. 

And, nobler far, she dares to know 

Her future's task,— nor knows in vain. 
But strikes at once the generous blow 

That makes her millions men again ! 

So, firmer based, her power expands. 

Nor yet has seen its crowning hour. 
Still teaching to the struggling lands 

That Peace the offspring is of Power. 

Build up the storied bronze, to tell 

The steps whereby this height she trod,— 

The thousand years that chronicle 
The toil of man, the help of God ! 



30 EMANCIPATION : 

And may the thousand years to come — 

The future ages, wise and free — 
Still see her flag and hear her drum 

Across the world, from sea to sea, — 

Still find, a symbol stern and grand. 

Her ancient eagle's strength unshorn, 
One head to watch the western land 
And one to guard the land of morn ! 
Novgorod, Russia, Sept. 20th, 1862. 

1870. Guha^ — The emancipation of the slaves in this Is- 
land met with great opposition. The attempt more than 
once threatened the loss of the Island to Spain. It kep t 
alive internal brawls and discentions among the inhab - 
.itants and the Government for many years. In nearly 
every revolt against the Crown, and there were several of 
them, the subject of emancipation entered into if it 
was not the cause of the uprising, but they all fell short 
of accomplishing the complete extinction of slavery 
as well as that of gaining independence. To a great de- 
gree,to thepunic faith of the Spanish Government and its 
officials in the Island in carrying out the law for the sup- 
pression of the African slave trade in 1845, is to 
be attributed the failure. It enabled the planters, 
in order to supply England's demand for sugar, to re- 
vive the almost suppressed traffic, which they carried on 
with redoubled activity. However the agitation of free- 
dom for the slaves grew stronger and louder, in fact as- 
sumed such a hopeful and probable altitude that in 1854 
the United States authorities assumed a menancing atti- 
tude towards Spain. Having failed in negotiations to 



ITS COURSE AND PB0GRB8S. 31 

purchase the Island for $1,000,000, the United States 
Ministers at the Courts of Paris, London and Madrid 
issued what is known as the Ostend Manifesto^ in which 
they held that it was the duty of the [Jnited States to 
prevent emancipation in Cuba ; if necessary to forcibly 
sieze and hold the Island. 

The most formidable of all the revolutions tend- 
ing to eifect emancipation was that of 1869, in which 
freedom] was proclaimed unconditionally, to all slaves 
by the revolutionists ; this uprising, like those which 
preceded it, failed. It was not until 1870, at which time 
the Cortes passed an act of gradual emancipation, that 
any permanent success was achieved ; the act passed 
provided that all children of slave parents born after 
the 4th of July, 1870, shall be free ; it also declared all 
slaves who had reached the age of 60 years free, and all 
others on reaching that age ; by this act 363,000 were 
freed in 1870,-287,000 in 1873, and 199,000 in 1876 
— Prof. N". B. Webster, of Virginia, estimates that in 

1882 75,000 will become free by this act, and in 1925 

"I 
slavery will be extinct in the Spanish colonies. 

1871. Brazil — Emancipation took somewhat the form 
and procedure of that in our own country, beginning 
with the abolition of the African slave trade in 1831, 
by defect in the law; the final abolition of the traffic 
however, did not take place until 1850; this was fol- 
lowed hj a gradual emancipation act in 1871, which 
manumitted all the government slaves and 30,000 oth- 
ers. 



32 EMANCIPATION : 

1873. The Cortes of the young Republic of Spain passed 
a bill setting free from that day,(March 24th) all slaves 
in Porto Rico; the bill provided that each owner should 
receive per head for his slaves the sum of $200 in 
American money. To pay this indemnity, seven mill- 
ions of dollars were raised upon the resources of Por- 
to Rico. The freed men were compelled by the Act to 
make contract either with the planters or the Govern- 
ment to work for wages for three years; it aleo provi- 
ded in the meantime that exact and wise laws for edu- 
cation should be put into operation. 

1875. Portugal. The Cortes granted unconditional free- 

dom to all her slaves;the Act provides that one year af- 
ter its promulgation, the system of apprenticeship un- 
der the decree of the 28th of February, 1869, shall cease, 
and all persons apprenticed by its provisions are de- 
clared free. The act also provides for the manner in 
which freedmen who have no trade or business, or who 
cannot read or write, may be subjected to tutelage by 
the civil authorities, but that this right — right of tute- 
lage—shall cease on the 28th of April, 1878. The la- 
bor of those under tutelage is declared free, and they 
are to be at liberty to make their own contracts, sub- 
ject to the revision of the proper authority, such con- 
tracts to be in no case binding for more than two years. 
The law also makes provision tor rendering effective 
the liberty it concedes. Thus it will be seen that the 
Act in question puts an end to slavery forever in Portu- 
gal and her dependencies, and not only proclaims the 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 33 

freedom of apprentices and the abolition in the Portu- 
guese dominions of man's apprenticeship to man, but 
declares that the labor of the apprentices now under 
tutelage is free, and that they are at liberty to make 
their own contracts, subject only to the revision of the 
proper authority. These munificent provisions are ex- 
ceeded by no nation, save, perhaps, Russia, where hu- 
manity dictated the terms, and made ample provisions 
for the emancipated serfs. 



EMANCIPATION. 



Whence comes this glory that our land has brightened? 

Whence comes this flood of radiance so bright? 
The golden cords of sisterhood are tightened, 

While heart and voice in praises deep unite. 
'Tis heaven's benediction gently falling, 
While Justice's voice her erring sons is calling. 

They hear, and quickly to the call responding, 
Loosen at once each worn and galling chain. 

And, kneeling where the boon to him was given, 
The freedman feels no sufTering was in vain. 

For God, the sovereign Lord of earth and heaven. 

Has bared his arm and every bond is riven. 

From our dear land a cloud of sin is lifted. 
O'er her is arched a clearer, brighter sky. 

Her rills and founts and brooks with joy are gushing, 
While tree tops whisper back a soft reply. 

Her people now the hand of God discerning. 

From darkness into light their steps are turning. 



34 EMANCIPATION : 

No more shall mother's hearts be torn with anguish, 
No more shall father's souls for vengeance burn, 

Sisters no more for brother's care shall languish, 
Nor brothers for a sister's love shall yearn. 

Their night is past, the morn to-fiay is breaking, 

Each joyful heart to praises sweet is waking. 

The star of hope in every bosom shining. 

Dispels the gloom that long has darkened there. 

They wake, and in the might of freedom rising. 
Pour forth the incense of a grateful prayer. 

Within them now a spirit breathes immortal. 

They soar on wings of faith to heaven's high portal. 

The freeman to his lowly cabin turning. 
When with the sun his daily labors o'er. 

Wipes from his beaming eye the moisture gathering. 
To see the group complete about his door. 

Lov^e. truth and mercy seem in triumph bending. 

While nature's voice, with his mute praise is blending. 

Our glorious banner with its hues of heaven. 
Far, far and wide all lingering doubt dispels. 

No slave beneath its folds now lowly couches. 
But safe beneath its stars securely dwells. 

O, God, whose hand our fragile bark did'st save. 

Leave us not now, we've dangers yet to brave. 

Still by thy wisdom let our hearts be moulded. 

Still for direction let us look to thee. 
In mercy, justice, faith at last perfect us. 

That we, thy will concerning us may see. 
O, let thy love on all this land descending, 
Preserve the Union safe from strife defending. 



ITS COURSE AND PKOGRESS. 35 

UNITED STATES. 

Emancipation in the United States is entitled to 
far greater consideration than the opportunity will per- 
mit it to be given here, even were it prudent to treat 
the subject at great length. 

With the exception of Georgia, all the c:»lonie9 
partook of the Virginia plan of slave labor in the 
cultivation of their products. The climate and senti- 
ment of the Northern colonies were adverse to slavery^ 
80 much 80 that after the abolition of Indian slavery, 
which was rather abolished by moral suasion than leg- 
islative enactment, Negro slavery flourished but for a 
period, when it began, in contrast with its lucrative- 
ness in the Southern colonies, to lag. The character of 
the colonists, their spirit and religious training, enters 
largely into and must account particularly for the pro- 
gress of the abhorance of slavery and the love of free- 
dom throughout the New World. 
1«1Q When the famous Dutch Ship landed her cargo of 

twenty African Negroes at Jamestown, the slave trade 
was more than a century old in the Spanish and Portu- 
guese possessions in America, and for half of that pe- 
riod the importation ot African slaves to the West 
Indies had been carried on by the merchants of G-reat 
Britain under the sanction of and in co-operation with 
the crown ; it was therefore no new institution when 
introduced into the colonies. To prohibit the trade was 
the desire if not the effort of everj^ good and conscien- 
tious citizen of the colonies,but the restrictive policy of 



36 EMANCIPATION : 

Great Britain,her monopoly of the trade of her colonies, 
enabled her merchants to keep the nefarious trade alive, 
despite the wish of the colonists to interdict it, and thus 
destroy the germ of the great evil. The war of the 
Revolution for American Independence, very suddenly 
changed the relations and conduct of the government 
toward the colonies respecting slavery, the revolt ne- 
cessitated extreme measures upon the part of Great 
Britain no less than upon the colonists,who, in order to 
maintain their opposition to the mother country, arm- 
ed their slaves ; this course of the rebels prompted the 
British authorities to offer freedom to all slaves who 
would join his Majesty's army and navy. The follow- 
ing, perhaps, is the first emancipation proclamation is- 
sued to the slaves in the JSTew World, by the British, 
ISTovember, 1775. 

' Ry /u's Excelh'ucy thv Right Honorable JOHN, Ea)-IofY)\5^- 
MORE, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Govertior-Generalofthe Col- 
ony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice- Admiral of the same, — 
•• A PROCLAMATION. 

" As I have ever entertained hopes that an accommodation 
might have taken place between Great Britain and this Colony, 
without being compelled by my duty to this most disagreeable 
but now absolutely necessary step, rendered so by a body of arm- 
ed men, unlawfully assembled, firing on his Majesty's tenders; 
and the formation of an army, and that army now on their 
march to attack his Majesty's troops, and destroy the well-dis- 
posed subjects of this Colony, — to defeat such treasonable pur- 
poses.and that all such traitors and their abettors may be brought 
to justice, and that the peace and good order of this Colony 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 37 

may be again restored, which the ordinary course of the civil 
law is unable to effect, I have thought fit to issue this my Pro- 
clamation ; hereby declaring, that, until the aforesaid good pur- 
poses can be obtained, I do, in virtue of the power and authori- 
ty to me given by his Majesty, determine to execute martial 
law, and cause the same to be executed, throughout this Colony. 
And, to the end that peace and good order may the sooner be 
restored, I do require every person capable of bearing arms to 
resort his Majesty's standard, or be looked upon as traitors to 
his Majesty's Crown and Government, and thereby become lia- 
ble to the penalty the law inflicts upon such offences, — such as 
forfeiture of life, confiscation of lands, &c., &c. And I do here- 
by further declare all indented servants, negroes, or others, (ap- 
pertaining to rebels,) free, that are able and willing to bear 
arms, they joining his Majesty's troops, as soon as may be. for 
the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper sense of their 
duty to his Majesty's crown and dignity. I do further order 
and require all his Majesty's liege subjects to retain their quit- 
rents, or any other taxes due, or that may become due, in their 
own custody, till such time as peace may be again restored to 
this at present most unhappy country, or demanded of them, 
fortheir former salutary purposes, by officers properly authoriz- 
ed to receive the same. 

" Given under my hand, on board the ship ' William,' oft' 
Norfolk, the seventh day of November, in the sixteenth year of 
his Majesty's reign. " Dunmore. 

" God sa7'c the King ! " 

The pictorial history of England, George III, thus 
speaks of the Act : 

" In letters which had been laid before the English Parlia- 
ement, and published to the whole world, he had represented th 
planters as ambitious, selfish men, pursuing their own interests 
and advancement at the expense of their poorer countrymen. 



38 



EMANCIPATION ; 



and as being ready to make every sacrifice of honesty and prin- 
. ciple ; and he had said more privately, that, since they were so 
anxious for liberty, — for more freedom than was consistent with 
the free institutions of the mother-country and the charter of 
the Colony, — that since they were so eager to abolish a fanciful 
slavery in a dependence on Great Britain, he would try how 
they liked an abolition of real slavery by setting free all their 
negroes and indentured servants, who were, in fact, little better 
than white slaves. This, to the Virginians, was like passing a 
I'asp over a gangrened place : it was probing a wound that was 
incurable, or which has not yet been healed. Later in the year, 
when the battle of Bunkei's Hill had been fought, when our 
forts on Lake Champlain had been taken from us, and when 
Montgomery and Arnold were pressing on our possessions in 
Canada, Lord Dunmore carried his threat into execution. Hav- 
ing established his head-quarters at Norfolk, he proclaimed free- 
dom to all the slaves who would repair to his standard and bear 
arms for the king. The summons was readily obeyed by most 
of the negroes who had the means of escaping to him. He, at 
the same time, issued a proclamation, declaring martial law 
throughout the Colony of Virginia; and he collected a number 
of armed vessels, which cut off the costing-trade, made many 
prizes, and greatly distressed an important part of that Prov- 
ince. If he could have opened a road to the slaves in the inte- 
rior of the Province, his measures would have been very fatal 
to the planters. In order to stop the alarming desertion of the 
negroes, and to arrest his Lordship in his career, the Provincial 
Assembly detached against him a strong force of more than a 
thousand men, who arrived in the neighborhood of Norfolk in 
the month of December. Having made a circuit, they came to 
a village called Great Bridge, where the river Elizabeth was 
traversed by a bridge ; but, before their arrival, the bridge had 
been made impassable, and some works, defended chiefly by ne- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 39 

groes had been thrown up." — Pictorial History of Em^taiui, 
George III. vol. I. PP.-224-225. 

The Continental Congress prohibited the employ- 
ment of slaves in the Army, it being,says the resolution, 
reported by the Committee of safety, 'inconsistent 
with the principles that are to be supported,' but be- 
fore the close of the war nearly every state passed 
laws freeing all slaves who would enlist ; the number 
of those accepting their freedom by enlistment may be 
judged, as they formed in nearly every state one or two 
regiments and often battalions, while numbers of them 
served in the white regiments and companies. At the 
close of the war a large number of Negroes who served 
in the army with promise of freedom were reinslaved 
or attempted to be; this injustice to the soldiers became 
so frequent that the assembly of Virginia in 1783 passed 
the following law: 

" Ati Act directing the Emancipation of certain Slaves who 
have served as Soldiers tn this State, and for the Einancipation 
of the Slave Aberdeen. 

" I. Whereas it hath been represented to the present Gen- 
eral Assembly, that during the course of the war, many persons 
in this State had caused their slaves to enlist in certain regi- 
ments or corps raised within the same, having tendered such 
slaves to the officers appointed to recruit forces within the State, 
as substitutes for free persons whose lot or duty it was to serve 
in such regiments or corps, at the same time representing to 
such recruiting officers that the slaves so enlisted by their direc- 
tion and concurrence, were freemen ; and it appearing further 
to this Assembly, that on the expiration of the term of enlist- 



40 EMANCIPATION : 

ment of such slaves, that the former owners have attempted 
again to force them to return to a state of servitude, contrary to 
the principles of justice, and to their own solemn promise ; 

" II. And whereas it appears just and reasonable, that all 
persons enlisted as aforesaid, who have faithfully served agree- 
able to the terms of their enlistment, and have thereby of course 
contributed towards the establishment of American liberty and 
independence, should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a re- 
ward for their toils and labors ; 

" Be it therefore enacted, That each and every slave, who 
by the appointment and direction of his owner, hath enlisted in 
any regiment or corps raised within this State, either on Conti- 
nental or State establishment, and hath been received as a sub- 
stitute for any free person whose duty or lot it was to serve in 
such regiment or corps, and hath served faithfully during the 
term of such enlistment, or hath been discharged from such 
service by some officer duly authorized to grant such discharge, 
shall, from and after the passing of this act, be fully and com- 
pletely emancipated, and shall be held and deemed free, in as 
full and ample a manner as if each and every of them were 
specially named in this act ; and the Attorney-general for the 
Commonwealth is hereby required to commence an action, in 
forma pauperis, in behalf of an)^ of the persons above described 
who shall, after the passing of this act, be detained in servitude 
by any person whatsoever ; and if, upon such prosecution, it 
shall appear that the pauper is entitled to his freedom in conse- 
quence of this act, a jury shall be empanelled to assess the 
damages for his detention. 

" III. And whereas it has been represented to this Gener- 
al Assembly, that Aberdeen, a negro man slave, hath labored a 
number of years in the public service at the lead mines, and for 
his meritorious services is entitled to freedom ; Be it therefore 
enacted. That the said slave Aberdeen shall be, and he is hereby. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 41 

emancipated and declared free in as full and ample a manner 
as if he had been born free." — Hcniiii^'s Statutrs at Large of 
Viroim'a, vol. xi. pp. 308, 309. 

Thus the freedom of the JSTegro soldiers of the Revo- 
lution was maintained ; as to the number that became 
free by "goin^ to the British" it is impossible to tell, 
every writer who has written on the subject places his 
own estimate of the number ; of the half million slaves 
however, in the colonies at the outbreak of the war 
not less than one fifth became free by the war. Jefier- 
son says, that 30,000 slaves in Virginia alone went to 
the British in a few weeks after the proclamation was 
issued, and had it not been that the British govern- 
ment had carried on solely the African slave trade, 
against the protestations of the colonists, doubtless the 
whole Negro population would have flocked to the 
British standard, but they hesitated and feared to 
trust a government that had enslaved them. 

The war of course checked the traffic, and the de- 
claration of independence gave the colonists an opportu- 
nity to abolish slavery, and the Northern colonies, or 
states as they now were, accepted the opportunity and 
began a system of gradual emancipation coupled with 
stringent and immediate interdiction of the foreign 
and domestic slave trade ; for the benefit of the South- 
ern States, however, the trade was revived after the 
Revolution and was carried on with Africa for a quar- 
ter of a century uninterruptedly; in the mean time the 
Northern states in framing their constitutions abolished 
the institution, beginning with 



42 emancipation: 

1777. Vermont, iipon whose soil a slave never trod, de- 
clared against slavery in her declaration against Bri- 
ton's rule, and prohibited it in her Constitution. 

1780. Massachusetts, in framing her Constitution, inser- 
ted the following declaration : " All men are born free 
and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and ina 
lienable rights, among which are the right of enjoying 
and defending their lives and liberties, and that of ac- 
quiring, possessing, and protecting property," her su- 
preme Court held that this forever abolished slavery in 
the state, and her slaves became by this decision free. 

Pennsylvania — Her legislature passed an Act de- 
claring that all persons born in that State after the 1st 
of March, 1780,8hould be free at the age of twenty eight. 

1783. New Hampshire — Abolished slavery by her Consti- 
tution. 

1784. ^hode Island, enacted that after March all persons 
born in the State should be free. 

Connecticut — passed a gradual emancipation Act. 

1799. New York — Her legislature enacted a bill for gradu- 
al emancipation, which was amended in 1817 by an Act 
which declared that after the 4th of July, 1827, slavery 
should not exist in that State, and further provided for 
the immediate emancipation of ten thousand African 
slaves. 

1804. New Jersey — By her legislature passed an Act for- 
ever abolishing slavery, and giving freedom gradually 
to her slaves. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 4S 

( In the census of 1790 the Northern States are 
given 40,370, and the Southern States 657,527 Negroes, 
slaves.) 

It is in justice to the eftort made in Virginia in 
1830 — 31, to abolish slavery by her legislature, that I 
make mention of it here. Following the Nat Turner 
insurrection in one of her counties, — Southampton — and 
i n a nswerto a petition signed by several hundred fe- 
males, the question was taken up by the legislature; a 
bill for gradual emancipation was discussed at great 
length and failed to pass by only two votes; this was 
superinduced by the insurrection, and with its subsi- 
dence went the emancipation question. It was not 
Virginia's first attempt to get rid of slavery; her Colo- 
nial Assembly in 1772, presented a petition to the 
Crown, stating, says Judge Tucker, in his "Notes to 
the American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries," 
"that the importation of slaves into the Colony from 
the Coast of Africa, has long been considered as a 
trade of great inhumanity ,and under its present encour- 
<igement they have too much reason to fear would en- 
danger the very existence of his Majesty's American do- 
minion," and beseeching the Crown to remove all those 
restraints on the Governors of that Colony, which in- 
hibited their assenting to such laws as might check so 
very pernicious a commerce as the African slave trade. 
But in this she followed the example set by the North- 
•ern Colonies. Massachusetts, as early as 1708, and 
again in 1767, sought to interdict slavery, so did New 



44 i;mancipi.tion : 

Jersey, and Pennsylvania; but the English Govern- 
ment lent a deaf ear to thbir entreaties, but no sooner 
was the independence of the Colonies declared in 1776 , 
than the American Congress resolved against the im- 
portation of slaves from Africa. 

1808 

By Act of Congress the slave trade was abolished, 

^Qo^and shortly thereafter declared to be piracy, and pun- 
ishable with death. 

±ooj.. When it was finally decided by the Southern lead- 
ers to dissolve the Union of the States, and defensive 
preparations began throughout the South, slaves were 
employed principally in building fortifications, batter- 
ies, and in digging trenches for the Confederate gov- 
ernment, while their masters were organizing and drill- 
ing, and later, when every road had its defences and Con- 
federate cannon had been mounted,from Virginia to Tex- 
as, the Negro was still a formidable obstacle to the suc- 
cess of the Federal government, and a most powerful al- 
ly to the Confederacy ; though not in the battle field 
shooting down the Federal soldiers, he was in the corn, 
rice and cotton fields cultivating the products that went 
to the maintenance of those who were in the battlefield — 
their masters — and who but for their Negroes must 
have remained at home, at least a portion of them, to 
till the land. When this became apparent to the North , 
the Federal G-overnment were at a loss to devise 
a remedy or estoppel for the aid; in fact the back bone 
the Negro was giving the confederacy. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 45 

Mr. Lincoln had promised that the institution of 
slavery should not be troubled, but it is quite reasona- 
ble to suppose that he, before making this promise in his 
inauo-ural messao-e, had not seen the Nesro in the roleo£ 
an ally to the South, and, to some extent, adhered to the 
opinion of the Semi-Union men at the North, who be- 
lieved that when hostilities began, the Negroes would 
revolt ; but this prediction did not come to pass, and 
the friends and supporters of the Federal Government, 
realizing the very great advantage the South was re- 
ceiving from the Negro, sought to cripple and deprive 
her of it. Yet all was at sea, for the aNorth studied 
how to fight the South, how to coerce her and yet not 
regard her as an enemy, at all events not in that sense 
in which a foreign nation would be regarded. All 
publicists agree that when a country is in open war 
with an enemy she has the right to use every 
means to weaken that enemy, and there were a large 
minority at the North, however, who did believe in 
this doctrine, and advocated it in the pulpit, at the 
bar, through the press, and on the stump, but the ad- 
ministration remained at sea. 

Soon after General Butler assumed command at 
Fortress Monroe, on the 22nd of May, forty days after 
the surrender of Fort Sumter, three Negro men, Shep- 
pard Mallory, Frank Baker and James Townsend, the 
property of Col. Mallory of Hampton, entered his lines, 



46 EMANCIPATION : 

seeking protection, they stated that their master. 
Col. Mallory, was a Confederate officer, and was about to 
send them away to work on rebel fortiiications. But- 
ler held they were "Contraband of war" and instruct- 
ed the quarter-master to put them to work. On the 
27th, finding the slaves of rebels continued to come in- 
to his lines, Butler wrote to Lt. Gen. Scott, saying, 
"Since I wrote my last, the question in regard to slave 
property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. 
The inhabitants of Virginia are using their ITegroes in 
the batteries, and are preparing to send their women and 
children South. The escapes from them are very numer- 
ous, and a squad has come in this morning and my 
pickets are bringing in their women and children. Of 
course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on 
which I designed to treat the services of able-bodied 
men and women, who might come within my lines, 
and of which I gave you a detailed account in my last 
despatch. 

I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this 
species of property ; up to this time, I have had come 
within my lines, men and women, with their children 
— entire families — each family belonging to the same 
owner. I have, therefore, determined to employ — as I 
can do very profitably — the able-bodied persons in the 
party, issuing proper food for the support of all. Charg- 
ing against their services the expenses of care and sus- 
tenance of the non-laborers; keeping a strict and ac- 



ITS COURSE AND PB OGRESS. 47- 

curate account, as well of the services as of the expen- 
ditures, bearing the worth of the services and the cost 
of the expenditures determined by a board of survey, 
hereafter to be detailed. I know of no other manner in 
which to dispose of this subject, and the questions con- 
nected therewith. 

As a matter of property, to the insurgents it will 
be of very great moment — the number that I now have 
amounting, as I am informed, to what in good times 
would be of the value of $60,000. 

Twelve of these Negroes, I am informed, have es- 
caped from the erection of the batteries on Sewell's 
Point, which fired upon my expedition as it passed by 
out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the 
enemy's hands, these Negroes, when able bodied, are 
of great importance. Without them, the batteries 
could not have been erected; at least for many weeks. 
As a military question, it would seem to be a measure 
of necessity, to deprive their masters of their services. 

How can this be done? A.3 a political question 
and a question of humanity , can I receive the services 
of a father and a mother and not take the children? 
Of the humanitarian aspect, I have no doubt; of the po- 
litical one, I have no right to judge; I therefore submit 
all this to your better judgment; and as these questions 
have a political aspect, I have ventured — and I trust I 
am not wrong in so doing — to duplicate the parts of 



48 EMANCIPATION : 

my despatch relating to this subject, and forward them 

to the Secretary of War. 

Your obedient servant, 

Benj. F. Butler." 
Lt. Gen. Scott. 

It is held by many of the leading statesmen and 
politicians, that all the emancipation acts passed by 
Congress were in keeping with the idea advanced by 
Butler, that Negroes used and employed in erecting 
works or otherwise aiding the rebellion should be con- 
fiscated, and dealt with as Contraband of tear. The 
status of tne Negro was a subject of much comment 
even in cabinet circles; that he would be a strong ally 
to the rebels, was conceded by all, but how to deprive 
them of their services, none but the most ultra-aboli- 
tionist dared suggest. It was not so much what should 
be done with them, when caught giving aid to the 
Confederate government, as it was what should be done 
with them after capture or surrender? These points 
Gen. Butler laid before the governing powers so con- 
cisely and explicitly as to have them decide the policy 
of the administration regarding the status of the Negro. 
Gen. Cameron, Secretary of War, clearly defined the po- 
sition of the administration, in reply to Butler : 

Your action in respect to the Negroes who came within 
your lines from the service of the rebels, is approved The De- 
partment is sensible of the embarrassments which must sur- 
round officers conducting military operations in a state by the 



ITS COUKSE AND PROGRESS. 49 

laws of which slavery is sanctioned. The government cannot 
recognize the rejection by any state of its P>deral obligations 
resting upon itself, among these Federal obligations, however, 
no one can be more important than that of suppressing and 
dispersing any combination of the former for the purpose of 
overthrowing its whole constitutional authority. While, there- 
fore, you will permit no interference by persons under your 
command, with the relations of persons held to service under 
the laws of any state, you will, on the other hand, so long as 
any state within which 5^our military operations are conduct- 
ed, remains under the control of such armed combinations, 
refrain from surrendering to alleged masters, any persons who 
come within your lines. You will emnloy such persons in the 
services to which they will be best adapted, keeping an account 
of the labor by them performed, of the value of it, and the ex- 
penses of their maintenance. The question of their final dispo- 
sition will be reserved for future determination. 

Simon Cameron, 

Secretary of War. 
To Maj. Gen. Butler. 

"CoutrabaEd." This word now became synonymous 
with emancipation ; to this the leading men of the na- 
tion agreed, holding with Vattel, "That in time of war, 
if it be a just war, and there be a people who have been 
oppressed by the enemy, and that eilemy be conquered, 
the victorious party cannot return that oppressed peo- 
ple to the bondage from which they have rescued them." 
Though the rebellion had hardly begun, there was an 
air of confidence of success in the orders of the govern- 
ment and in the expressed opinions of the loyal people, 
.and from this single act the emancipationist and the 



50 EMANCIPATION : 

abolition press saw the star of their hope advanced to 
this bright constellation of our country's future great- 
ness — Emancipation — Equality. Instead of the rebels 
keeping this edict of Butler's and Cameron's out of the 
ears of the Negroes,they gave publicity to it,and hundreds 
of contrabands flocked to Butler. The New York 
Herald, in no sense an anti-slavery paper, said regard- 
ing the act, "Gen. Butler has struck this Southern in- 
surrection in a place which is as vulnerable as the head 
of Achilles; and we dare say that, in receiving and seiz- 
ing the slaves of rebels as Contraband of war, this South- 
ern Confederacy will be substantially suppressed with 
the pacification of Virginia." Again this same paper 
spoke, in about a month afterwards, and said, "These 
fugitive slaves, at this rate, will soon prove more pow- 
erful in suffocating this southern white insurrection 
than all the armies of Gen. Scott. This man Butler 
in this thing, has proved himself the greatest lawyer 
we have between a pair of epaulets." 

May jist, and June 2Sth, 1861. 

In July, the matter was brought in Congress by 
Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, as chairman of the 
Senate's Judiciary Committee, and by direction ot that 
committee he reported to the Senate a bill to confiscate 
all property of rebels used for insurrectionary and oth- 
er purposes; the main or emancipation feature of the 
bill read, "That whenever any person claiming to be en- 
titled to the services or labor of any other person, un- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 51 

der the laws of any state, shall employ such persons in 
aiding or promoting any insurrection, or in resisting 
the laws of the United States, or shall permit or suffer 
him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such 
service or labor, and the person whose labor or service 
is thus claimed shall be henceforth discharged there- 
from,any law to the contrary notwithstanding." It pass- 
ed the senate by 33 yeas to 6 noes, it passed the House of 
Representatives on theSrd of August,receiving the sig- 
nature of the President on the 6th. Thus began a series 
of emancipation enactments looking to the overthrow of 
the rebellion. 

In July, Maj. Gen. Fremont took command of the 
Department ot Missouri,and on the 31st of August issu- 
ed a general edict emancipating the slaves of all persons 
in arms in that state against the general government ; 
the following is the portion of the order referred to : 

" In order to suppress disorders, to maintain, as 
far as now practicable, the public peace, and to give 
security and protection to the persons and property of 
loyal citizens, I do hereby declare established martial 
law throughout the State of Missouri. * * * * All 
persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands, 
within these lines, shall be tried by court-martial, and 
if found guilty, will be shot, the property, real and per- 
sonal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, who shall 
take up arms against the United States, or who shall be 
directly proven to have taken active part with their 



52 EMANCIPATION 

enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the 
public use ; and their slaves, if any they have, are here- 
by declared free men." The following letter fully ex- 
plains itself; it was necessitared by Gen. Fremont's re- 
fusal to withdraw or modify his order or that portion 
relating to the emancipation of slaves. 

"Washington, D. C, Sept. nth, 1861. 

Maj. Genera/ JoJtn C. Fremont, 
Sir:— 

Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2nd inst, is just 
received. Assured that 3^ou. upon the ground, could better 
judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this 
di stance, on seeing your proclamation of August 30th, I per- 
ceived no general objection to it ; the particular clause, however* 
in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberation of 
slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable in its non-conformi- 
ty to the act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, upon 
the same subjects ; and hence I wrote you expressing my wish 
that that clause should be modified accordingly. Your answer 
just received expresses the preference on your part that I 
should make an open order for the modification, which I very 
cheerfully do; it is therefore ordered that the said clause of said 
proclamation be so modified, held, and construed, as to conform 
with and not to transcend, the provisions on the same subject 
contained in the act of Congress, entitled, An act to confis- 
cate property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved 
August 6th, 1 861 ; and that the said act be published at length 
with this order. 

Your obedient Servant, 

A. Lincoln." 

General Fremont's proclamation was hailed with 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 53 

approval by the loyal press and people generally, not- 
withstanding Mr. Lincoln was loth to part from the 
policy enunciated, it was in fact with some reluctance 
that he approved the act he quotes; wherever a volun- 
teer officer commanded he dealt slavery a blow; if he 
did not proclaim the slaves free, he so acted and treat- 
ed them. 

To the contrary of this, was the conduct and pro- 
cedure of the West Pointers, in the regular army. 

The fires of emancipation, however, were burning 
brighter throughout the East; mass meetings and pray- 
er meetings for abolition were held in all the large 
Northern cities, resolutions and delegations were sent 
to Washington City urging upon Congress the neces- 
sity of prohibiting the Navy and Army officers return- 
ing escaped slaves to their alleged owners. 
L862 President Lincoln sent the following special mess- 

age to Congress in March, recommending aid to the 
States that would abolish slavery : 

" Fi'lhnu-Citizens of f/ir Sffiaft^ a)td House of Representatives : 

" I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your 
honorable bodies which shall be substantially as follows : 

" ' Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with 
any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 
giving to such State pecuniary aid to be used by such State at its 
discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and 
priv^ate, produced by such change of system/ 

" If the proposition contained in the resolution does not 
meet the approval of Congress and the country, there is the end; 
but if it does command such approval, I deem it of importance 



54 EMANCIPATION : 

that the States and people immediately interested should be at 
once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they may begin to 
consider whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Govern- 
ment would find its highest interest in such a measure as one of 
the most efficient means of self-preservation. The leaders of 
the existing insurrection entertain the hope that the Govern- 
ment will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence 
of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave 
States north of such parts will then say ; ' The Union for which 
we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with 
the southern section.' To deprive them of this hope, substan- 
tially ends the rebellion, and the initiation of emancipation com- 
pletely deprives them of it as to all the States initiating it. 

"The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would 
very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation, but that while the 
offer is equally made to all, the more northern shall, by such 
initiation, make it certain to the more southern that in no event 
will the former ever join the latter in their proposed confedera- 
cy. 1 say 'initiation,' because, in my judgment, gradual and not 
sudden emancipation is better for all. In the mere financial or 
pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the census tables 
and the treasury report before him, can readily see for himself 
how very soon the current expenditures of this war would pur- 
chase, at a fair valuation, all the slaves in any named State. 

" Such a proposition on the part of the general Govern- 
ment sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to inter- 
fere with slavery within State limits, referring as it does the 
absolute control of the subject in each case to the State and its 
people immediately interested. It is proposed .-is a matter of 
perfectly free choice with them. 

" In the annual message, last December I thought fit to say : 
' The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable 
means must be employed.' I said this not hastily, but deliber- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 55 

ately. War has been, and continues to be an indispensable 
means to this end. A practical re-acknowledgment of the 
national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it 
would at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the war 
must also continue, and it is impossible to foresee all the inci- 
dents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. 
Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise 
great efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come. 
The proposition now made is an offer only, and I hope it may 
be esteemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary considera- 
tion tendered would not be of more value to the States and 
private persons concerned than are the institution and property 
in it, in the present aspect of affairs. While it is true that the 
adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, 
and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in 
the hope that it would soon lead to important results. In full 
view of my great responsibility to my God and to my country, 
I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the 
subject. Abraham Lincoln." 

The subject was duly taken up; in December, 1861, 
a bill was introduced in Congress abolishing slavery in 
the District of Columbia, but it was not yet finally 
acted upon, but now the President had seen fit, though 
very cautiously, to signal his acceptance of the voice of 
the loyal North, in the message. In April, Congress re- 
sumed the consideration of abolishing slavery in the 
District, over which it has sole jurisdiction, and on 
the 11th passed the bill, giving compensation to loyal 
owners, $300 per head ; the bill was approved by the 
President on the 16th, and returned to Congress with the 
following message; 



56 EMANCIPATION: 

" Fellow-CHizens of the Senate and House of Representatives r 

" The act entitled ' An act for the release of certain persons 
held to service or labor in the District of Columbia,' has this 
day been approved and signed. 

" I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Con- 
gress to abolish slavery in this District, and I have ever desired 
to see the national capital freed from the institution in some 
satisfactory way. Hence there has never been in my mind any 
question upon the subject except the one of expediency, arising 
in view of all the circumstances. If there be matters within 
and about this act, which might have taken a course or shape 
more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify 
them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation 
and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in 
the act. 

" In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims 
may be presented within ninety days from the passage of the 
act, but not thereafter, and there is no saving tor minors, femmcs 
coverts, insane, or absent persons. I presume this is an omis- 
sion by mere oversight, and I recommend that it be supplied by 
an amendatory or supplemental act. Abraham Lincoln." 

A hundred thousand dollars was appropriated to 
colonize those who desired to go out of the country, all 
of which was squandered in the vain attempt to establish 
a Colony on Cow Island in the Caribbean Sea. An ef- 
fort was then made to pay $300 for every slave eman- 
cipated in the States of Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, but this was not 
passed. On the lUh of March the question abolishing 
slavery in the Territories was introduced by a bill. 
Congress had organized Colorado, Nevada, and Dako- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 57 

tah into territories without saying anything about 
slavery, in keeping with the President's policy, but since 
then there had been a departure, and the emancipationist 
had succeeded in the district, and now they de- 
manded the ISTational Government to wipe its hands 
clear of the foul blot wherever it had the power, con- 
sequently slavery in the Territories was forever pro- 
hibited and the slaves in them freed : this measure 
was passed in June. 

This was the greatest achievement of all ; it had been 
the effort of the anti-slavery men of the countrj^ from 
the very first to prohibit slavery from going into the 
Territories, in truth it was the scheme to eventually 
destroy slavery. Mr. Jefferson in the first Colonial 
Congress after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. 
submitted a plan for the organization of the Territo- 
ries, embryo states, to be ceded to the Confederation, 
and in which report known as the Jeffersonian ordi- 
nance of 1784, was embodied the following condition: 

"That after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there 
shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in 
any ot the said states, (Territories) otherwise than in 
punishment of crimes, whereof the party siiall have 
been duly convicted to have been personally guilty." 
This proposition was defeated by the absence of a mem- 
ber from New Jersey, whose presence and vote might 
have saved the lives and treasury sacrificed in the re- 
bellion of 1861 — 5 because it would have confined slav- 

[D] 



58 EMANCIPATION: 

ery to the States in which it then existed ; as the sequel 
now shows it would not have lived until 1800. It may 
not be uninteresting to the reader to know to some ex- 
tent the eiibrt made against slavery in all but the thir- 
teen original States, at the organization of the territo- 
rial governments under the compact, therefore I speak 
of it. The last Colonial Congress which assembled in 
1787, (the convention which framed our present con- 
stitution was sitting at the same time,) took in consid- 
eration the territorial governments, and Nathan Dane, 
of Mass., reported from a committee rules for the gov- 
ernment of the territories northwest of the Ohio, not 
including those embraced in Mr. Jeffersoii's report, in 
1784; the act was passed with the following condition: 
"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- 
tude in the said territories otherwise than in punish- 
ment of crimes whereof the parties shall be duly con- 
victed:" To this was added an agreement that slaves es- 
caping from one to another State should be apprehend- 
ed and returned ; with this it was adopted by the con- 
vention as well as by the Colonial Congress ; thus the 
abolitionists' plan was thwarted, hence the magnitude 
and importance of the victory for the emancipationist 
at the passage of the bill abolishing and prohibiting 
slavery in the territories. 

Following the measures already cited was the confis- 
cation bill which proposed that all slaves of persons 
who give aid or comfort to the rebellion, loho shall 
take refuge within the federal lines, all slaves captured 



ITS COUR.SE AND PROGRESS. 59 

from such persons or deserted by them, &c. &c. &c., 
shall be free ; it received the President's approval in 
July, as did also the bill abolishins: the African slave 
trade at the same time. The tide now fairly set in, 
and Congress had accepted the opinion of the North 
that slavery was the back bone of the Confederacy and 
must be so treated. A propsition to amend the nation, 
al enrollment act so as to include within its provision 
persons of African descent, was taken up and passed. 
Already there was a considerable armed forced of Ne- 
groes in the Army, the camps of the Union forces were 
swarming with contrabands ; this word of itself was 
understood by the major portion of the Union Army 
to mean freedom ; during the debate upon the propo- 
sition to arm the Negroes, and declare them forever free, 
Senator Harlem of Iowa, said, -'If I read the si^ns of 
the times correctly) , this has become a necessity. We 
cannot, if we persist in our folly, thwart the ultimate 
purposes of the Almighty. By His providential inter- 
position, He has thrown open the door for the libera- 
tion of a nation of bondmen ; He has removed the Con- 
stitutional impediment; He has caused their assistance 
to be necessary for the perpetuity of the Union and the 
integrity of the nation. H we accept of this high des- 
tiny, all the nations of earth combined against us 
would be as flax in the flames ; but if we are not equal 
to the demand of the age and obstinately refuse to fol- 
low the plain intimation of Providence, this great 
work will be handed over to other nations, or will be 



60 EMANCIPATION : 

wrought out by the rebels themselves , and our nation 
will become permanently divided." This measure was 
adopted in July : the act gave freedom to every black 
man enrolled, drafted or volunteering on being muster- 
ed into the military service of the United States 
This manumission act, together with the contiscati on 
act freeing slaves within the Federal lines belonging to 
disloyal persons, gave freedom to hundreds of thous- 
ands of Negro slaves, including over two hundred 
thousand in the army and navy during the rebellion. 
"With slavery prohibited forever in the Territories, the 
close of the year drawing near, bore rich fruit to the 
emancipationists, though slavery still existed in the 
States of Delaware and Kentucky. 

The prospects of a complete abolition harvest was 
enhanced in September, by the President's prelimina- 
ry proclamation; he having assumed actual command 
of the United States forces engaged in suppressing the 
rebellion in March, and now, as commander-iu-chief, 
he issued a Proclamation; warning those in arms a- 
gainst the United States authorities, that unless they 
laid down their arms and returned to their allegiance 
due the Government of the TTnited States before the 
1st day of January, 1863, he would on that day declare 
all their slaves free. 

Nothwithstanding his prospective and meditative 
proclamation of Emancipation to be issued January 1.^/, 
in his annual Message to Congress December 1st, he 



ITS COURSE AND PEOGRESS. 61 

made the following recommeiidatibiis as an amend- 
ment to the Constitution: 

''Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds 
of both houses concurring, that the following articles be pro- 
posed to the Legislatures or Conventions of the several States 
as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or 
any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said 
Legislatures or Conventions, to be valid as part or parts of the 
said Constitution, namely : 

" Article — . Every State wherein slavery now exists, which 
shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the 
first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine 
hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States as 
follows, to wit : 

" The President of the L^nited States shall deliver to every 
such State, bonds of the United States; bearing interest at the 

rate of , for each slave shown to have been therein, by the 

eighth census of the United States ; said bonds to be delivered 
to such State by instalments, or in one parcel at the completion 
of the abolishment, according as the same shall have been 
gradual or at o"e time within such State; and interest shall 
begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of 
its delivery as aforesaid, and afterward. Any State having re- 
ceived bonds as aforesaid, and afterward introducing or tolera- 
ting slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds 
so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon. 

" Article — . All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual free- 
dom, by the chances of the war at any time, before the end of 
the rebellion, shall be forever free ; but all owners of such, who 
shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them at 
the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment 
of slavery — but in such a way that no slave shall be twice 



62 EMANCIPATION : 

accounted for. 

" Article — . Congresh may appropriate money, and other- 
wise provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own 
consent, at any place or places without the United States." 

Thus continuing bis policy for gradual Emancipa- 
tion, but inasmuch as the rebels nor the border States 
had not accepted the proifered aid of the Grovernment 
as set forth in the joint resolution of Congress, passed in 
April, and in the proclamation of Sept. 227if^,thi8 Mess- 
age aimed at £i finale of the subject so far as the nation- 
al Government was concerned, and puts beyond a perad- 
venture the fact that Mr, Lincoln did not deem his au- 
thority to emancipate the slaves sufficient to secure the 
slave from a return to slavery, hence he urges an a- 
mendment to the Constitution. Action on these re- 
commendations was not taken until Dec. 186-3, one year 
after they were made. 

The President however in accordance with his 
proclamation of September promising to free the slaves 
in the States and parts of States in rebellion against the 
I^Q^.JJnited States^ on the l.s^ of January issued the 
promised proclamation of general Emancipation, 
excepting, however, the slaves in those portions of 
States then occupied by the Union forces, and also 
those sections where the people were loyal to the un- 
ion of the states, the slaves remained as though the 
proclamation had not been issued. Truly this procla- 
mation did not, like the surrender of Yorktown, free 
a single slave, nor would it have had even the moral 



ITS COURSE AND PllOURESS. 63 

force given it it received but for the fact, that the South, 
ern States declared themselves independent, and en- 
gaged in open war against the Federal Government 
for the maintenance of their declared independence ; 
only for this assumption, neither the President nor 
Congress, nor the loyal people, could have by proclam- 
ation, amendment to the constitution, or by any other 
means, emancipated the slaves, yet how surprising it is 
that the emancipation of the American i^egro, when 
referred tojits source, its credit is given to the lamented 
Lincoln, — it was just as easy for the President to de- 
clare a victory for the Union army as to declare the 
slaves in the enemy's country free. But it is not my 
purpose to discuss this proclamation, which admits of 
more than ordinary argument : nor would I for a mo- 
ment either directly or indirectly, neither by word or 
insinuation attempt to detract from the fame of the 
humane and illustrious statesman, the benefactor of my 
race, Abraham Lincoln : — nevertheless, we should 
know the truth concerning so important an event as 
the emancipation of four million of slaves, and know, 
too, that the proclamation in question did not emanci- 
pate them. Had the South maintained her assumed 
independence in defiance of the Federal Government, 
what would the edict have amounted to? Again, had 
the enemy laid down their arms six months after the 
edict was issued, would they have lost their slaves ? 
It must be remembered that Cong-ross recoo-nized slav- 
ery a year after the proclamation was issued, and treat- 



64 EMANCIPATION : 

ed with the owner as late as 1864. bj paying one hun- 
dred dollars to the loyal owners for every slave who en- 
listed in the Union army. When then, and how came 
the slaves free? Before answering these questions, let 

us read what President Lincoln has to say regarding 
the proclamation. It must be remembered that the 
anti-emancipationists of the country, particularly of the 
West, were very strongly opposed to the proclamation. 
Some of them talked of advising the troops in the fields 
to throw down their arms unless the proclamation was 
rescinded, as had been those of Fremont's and Hunter's. 
This spirit led to a mass-meeting of the unconditional 
Union men at Chicago, to which President Lincoln 
was invited to attend, and to which he addressed tne 
following pungent letter ; 

"Executive Mansion, Washington, August 26th, iS6j. 
•'My Dear Sir : — Your letter inviting me to attend a mass 
meeting of unconditional Union men, to be held at the capitol 
of Illinois on the third day of September, has been received. 
It wolud be very agreeable to me thus to meet my old friends 
at my own home ; but I cannot just now be absent from this city 
so long as a visit there would require. The meeting is to be 
of all those who maintain unconditional devotion to the Union ; 
and I am sure that my old political friends will thank me for 
tendering,as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men 
whom no partisan malice or partisam hope can make false to the 
nation's life. There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To 
such I would say : — You desire peace, and you blame me that we 
do not have it. But how can we attain it.'' There are but three con- 
ceivable ways : — First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. 
This I am trying to do. Are you for it .^ If you are, so far we are a- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. t)5 

greed. If you are not for it, a second way is to give up the Un- 
ion. I am against this. If you are, you should say so, plainly. 
If you are not for force, nor yet for dissolution, there only re- 
mains some imaginable compromise. I do not believe that any 
compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union is now 
possible. All that 1 learn leads to a directly opposite belief. 
The strength of the rebellion is its military — its army. That 
army dominates all the country and all the people within its range 
Any offer of any terms made by any man or men within that 
range in opposition to that army is simply nothing for the pres- 
ent, because such man or men have no power whatever to en- 
force their side of a compromise, if one were made with them. To 
illustrate : Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of 
the North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim 
a compromise embracing the restoration of the Union. In what 
way can that compromise be used to keep General Lee's army out 
of Pennsylvania ? General Mead's army can keep Lee's army 
out of Pennsylvania, and I think can ultimately drive it out of 
existence. But no paper compormise to which the controllers of 
General Lee's army are not agreed, can at all affect that army. 
In an effort at such compromise we would waste time which 
the enemy would improve to our disadvantage, and that would 
be all. A compromise, to be effective, must be made either 
with those who control the rebel army, or with the people, first 
liberated from the domination of that army by the success of 
our army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word or inti- 
mation from the rebel army, or from any of the men control- 
ing it, in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to 
mv knowledge or belief. All charges and intimations to the 
contrary are deceptive and groundless. And I promise you 
that if such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be re- 
jected and kept secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself 
to be the servant of the people, according to the bond of ser- 



66 EMANCIPATION : 

vice, the United States constitution : and that, as such, I am 
responsible to them, But. to be plain: You are dissatisfied 
with me about the negro. Quite likely there is a difference of 
opinion betwen you and myself upon that subject. I certain- 
ly wish that all men could be free, while you. I suppose, do not. 
Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed aiiv measure which is 
not consistent with even your view, provided you are for tlie 
Union. I suggested compensated emancipation, to which you 
replied that you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But 
I have not asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in sucn 
way as to save you from greater taxation, to save the Union ex- 
clusively by other means. 

"You dislike the emancipation proclamation, and perhaps 
would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think 
differently. I think that the constitution invests its commander- 
in-chief with the law of war in time of war. The most that can. 
be said, if so much, is, that the slaves are proper:y. Is there, 
has there ever been, any question that by the law of war, prop- 
erty both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed .'' 
And is it not needed whenever taking it helps us or hurts the 
enemy PArmies, the world over, destroy enemies' property when 
they cannot use it ; and even destory their own to keep it from 
the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help 
themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few things regarded as 
barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the massacre 
of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and female. But 
the proclamation, as law, is valid or isnot valid. If it is not val- 
id it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot be retract- 
ed, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of 
you profess to think that its retraction would operate favorbly 
for the Union. Why better after the retraction than before the 
issue ? There was more than a year and a half of trial to sup- 
press the rebellion before the proclamation was issued, the last 
one hundred days of which passed under an explicit notice. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 67 

that it was coming unless averted l)y those in revoh returning 
to their allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favor- 
ably for us since the issue of the proclamation as before. I 
know as fully as one can know the opinion of others, that some 
of the commanders of our armies in the field, who have given 
us our most Important xictories, believe the emancipation poli- 
cy and the aid of the colored troops constitutes the heaviest 
blows yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one of those 
important successes could not have been achieved when it was 
but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the commanders holding 
these views are some who have never had any affinity with what 
is abolitionism or with the 'republican party politics.'— But who 
hold them purely as military opinions. I submit their opinions 
as being entitled to some weight against the objections often 
urged that the emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise 
as military measures, and were not adopted as such in good 
faith. You say that you will not fight to free negroes. Some 
of them seem to bewillingto tight for you— but no matter. Fight 
you, then, exclusively to save the Union. I issued the procla- 
mation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever 
you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall 
urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for 
you to declare that you will not fight to free negroes. I thought 
that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the ne- 
groes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weak- 
ened the enemy in his resistance to you. Do 3fou think difter- 
ently ? I thought whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, 
leaves just so much less for white soldiers to do in saving the 
Union. Does it appear otherwise to you ? But negroes, like 
other people, act upon motives. Why should they do anything 
for us if we will do nothing for tliem ? If they stake their lives 
for us they must be prompted by the strongest motive, even the 
promise of freedom. And the promise being made must be 
kept. The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes 



68 EMANCIPATION: 

unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the great North-west for it. 
Not jet wholly to them. Three hundred miles up they met 
New England, Empire, Keystone and Jersey, hewing their way 
right and left. The sunny South, too, in more colors than one, 
also lent a hand. On the spot their part of the history was 
jotted down in black and white. The job was a great national 
one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it' 
and, while those who have cleared the great river may well be 
proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has 
been more bravely and better done than that at Antietam, 
Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of less note, 
Nor must Uncle Sam's webffeet be forgotten. At all the wa- 
ter's margins they have been present: — not only on the deep sea, 
the broad bay and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, mud- 
dy bayou ; and wherever the ground was a little damp they have 
been and made their tracks. Thanks to all. For the great re- 
public — for the principles by which it lives and keeps alive — 
for man's vast future— thanks to all. Peace does not appear so 
far distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to 
stay ; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. 
It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be 
no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they 
who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the 
cost. And then there will be some black men who can remem- 
ber that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye 
and well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this 
great consummation ;while I fear that there will be some white 
men unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful 
speech they have striven to hinder it. Still let us not be over 
sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let 
us dilligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, 
in his own good time, will give us the rightful result. 

Yours very truly. A, LI^COLN./ 



ITS COUKSE AND PROGRESS. 69 

The plea which Mr. Lincohi sets up for the valid- 
ity of the proclamation is doubtless good, that he had 
the authority to do anything and everything as Com- 
mander in chief of the Army and l^avy during the 
war, I think none will doubt, but had he the right in 
time of war to declare what should be in time of peace? 
In other words, if he took Vallandigham's mules to 
prevent them being used against the Government du- 
ing the war, could Vallandigham claim his mules when 
the war was ended ? 

Now when property has been forfeited on account 
of treason or rebellion against the United States, does 
it deprive the heirs of enjoying that property after the 
death of the traitor rebel ? There are very many the- 
ories regarding the validity of the proclamation, but it 
must be seen that Mr. Lincoln did not regard the Ne- 
gro safe in emancipation. The Union National Conven- 
tion which assembled at Baltimore in June, and at 
which Mr. Lincoln was renominated, adopted the fol- 
lowing resolution expressive of the sentiments of the 
Union people of the country : Resolved^ that as slavery 
was the cause and now constitutes the strength of this 
rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hos- 
tile to the principles of republican Government, justice 
and the national safety demands its utter and complete 
extirpation from the soil of the republic; and that we up - 
hold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which 
the government, in its own defense has aimed a death 
blow at the gigantic evil. We are in favor, furthermore 



70 EMANCIPATION : 

of such an amendment to the constitution, to be made 
by the people in conformity with its provision, as shall 
terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery 
within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United 
States." This being the platform upon which Mr. 
Lincoln was re-elected with a new Congress, it was re- 
garded as endorsing the emancijoation proclamation 
pledging Congress to the passage of the XIII amend- 
ment, rejected by the last Congress, by which means 
the Proclamation might be made valid. Congress re- 
assembled in December, and Mr. Lincoln in his mes- 
sage took occasion to urge the passage of the thirteenth 
amendment in this language ; 

"Without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of 
those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend 
the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the 
present session. Of course, the abstract question is not 
changed but an intervening election shows, almost 
certainly, that the next Congress will pass the measure 
if this does not. Hence there is only a question of time 
as to when the proposed amendment will go the States 
for their action. And, as it is to so go, at all events, 
may we not agree that the sooner the better ? It is 
not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on 
members to cliange their views or their votes, any furth- 
er than as an additional element may be effected by it. 
It is the voice of the people now, for the first time 
heard upon the question, in a great national crisis like 
ours. U nanimity of action among those seeking a com- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 71 

mon end is very desirable, almost indespensable. And 
yet, no such unanimity is attainable, unless some def- 
erence shall be paid to the will of the majority ; in this 
case, the common end is the maintenance of the Union, 
and among the means to secure that end, such will, 
through the election, be most clearly declared in favor 
of such Constitutional amendment." 

No more authoritative statement as to the policy 
and governmental views respecting emaccipation can 
possibly be given than that given by a member of Mr. 
Lincoln's cabinet, Sec'y of the Navy, Wells, who de- 
clares in refutation to Mr. Adam's statement, who, in 
his memorial address, on the life, service and character 
of the late Secretary of State Seward, gives Mr. Sew- 
ard credit for the administration policy : 

" The distinctive measure of Mr. Lincoln's admin, 
istration, beyond all others that which ujakes it an era in 
our national history — is the decree of emancipation. 
This movement, almost revolutionary, was a step not 
anticipated by him when elected, and which neith- 
er he nor any of his cabinet was 23repared for, or would 
have assented to when they entered upon their duties. 
He and they had — regardless of party discipline — re- 
sisted the schemes for the extention of slavery into free 
territory under the sanction of federal authority. All 
of them, though of different parties, were and ever had 
been opposed to slavery — but not one of them favored 
any interference with it by the national government 
in the States where it was established or permitted." 



72 



EMANCIPATION 



Not from any question of expediency but adhering 
to the belief that the Executive nor Congress had not 
the authority to do so, what then caused Mr. Lincoln 
to issue the proclamation while yet holding to those 
views ; was he an instrument of Divine will ? 

"Prof. Haygood, in his excellent work, "Our Broth " 
in Black" says, upder the captain of "Providence in 
Emancipation," "There can be, no question, I think, 
but that emancipation was set down in the order of 
Divine Providence. Had the white people realized 
both in thought and act, their relation to the slaves, 
emancipation might have come sooner, it might have 
come later, but it would have come peaceably, and 
when both masters and slaves were better prepared for 
the change. It is to me a very painful thought that, 
while there were very many noble exceptions, the ma- 
jority of masters never understood the solemity of their 
trust in the temporary guardianship of these iTegroes 
in course of training. Many of them, I fear the larg- 
est number, recognized chie% a property interest in 
the IS^egroes. Men with this feeling uppermost, could 
not do their dut}^ to the slaves. But God's plans must 
not be marred by human ignorance or stupidity ; so 
that it came to pass that God used a great war to set 
free the Negroes." J 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 73- 

How the Negro regarded the proclamation is not 
difficult to tell, and perhaps the observation of one of 
Mr. Lincoln's staunches t supporters and advisers, may 
serve to illustrate more clearly than I can, how the Ne- 
gro and his abolition friends were affected by it. " The 
slaves," he says, " of the South, seem to have made no 
mistake as to their status. They knew they were not 
free while their masters held them and the territory. 
They looked to the gun boats and the stars and stripes,. 
and regarded the proclamation only as a promise which 
would fail or be made good according to the issue of the 
war. As to the people of the North, they were in na 
humor to " reason too precisely upon the event. " They 
were impatient under the existing policy and looked 
for a change ; they saw that change in the proclamation, 
and cared little in what form it came, or what else it un- 
dertook to do. They had been disgusted by the advice 
that had been offered them on constitutional questions 
by over-technical or semi-loyal men. Jurists had advised 
that the Prize Courts were unconstitutional, that no 
property could be taken, at sea or on land, except 
in the way of penalty for treason, after a jury trial.. 
We could not blockade our own ports; that though an 
army and militia were constitutional, volunteers and 
conscriptions were not; and at the bottom of all, that 
the Republic could not coerce a State. It is little won- 
der, therefore, that they were impatient of any criti- 
cism upon the proclamation. On the other hand, un- 
questionable patriots, educated in a narrow school of 



74 EMANCIPATION : 

strict construction were telling the people that 

the only way to save the Union was to run the 
Constitution ashore. 

Fortunately, the proclamation was never brought to 
a test. There can be little doubt that Foreign States 
and our own J udiciary would have treated it as ineffect- 
ual." 

Congress, in 1867, passed an act making valid and 
conclusive all Proclamations that had been issued be- 
tween March, 1861 and July, 1866. As to whether or 
not Congress would pass unnecessary laws, is to be in- 
ferred, judging of the value of the President's Procla- 
mation, in the eye of the law, then existing; however 
many suits since the war closed and at the time the 
act was passed, were pending in the Courts, which in- 
volved the question of legality of Proclamations issued 
during the war, and in order to give validity to them, 
Congress passed the act cited. 

A writer in the North American Review No 289, in 
a wide and searching article on " The Validity of the 
Emancijpation Edict" says : 

"That slavery has been abolished it is presumed no one will 
gainsay. If abolished, when did it cease ? Did emancipation 
take place when the rebel armies capitulated ? Nothing was 
said about slavery when Lee surrendered. Did it take effect at 
some period subsequent to the day of surrender ? For reasons 
previously stated it could not have taken effect at a subsequent 
date. Did it not take effect when President Lincoln, acting for 
the Federal Government, intended '\\. shoul \ take effect, on Janu- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 75 

ary i, 1863 ? Or did the thirteenth amendment abolish slaver>'? 
This amendment declares : 

• Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a pun- 
ishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject 
to their jurisdiction. ' 

This amendment was submitted by Congress to the Legis- 
latures, February 1, 1865. Secretary Seward certified, De- 
cember 18, 1865, that it had been duly ratified by twenty-seven 
of the thirty-six States. Did slavery exist in the United States 
after the Proclamation of Emancipation and up to the time of 
ratifying the amendment.' Such a supposition is impossible. 
Relatively considered.there was no more aitthoj'ity for the amend- 
ment than for the proclamation, Both depended and depend 
for their validity upon the fact of their ratification. The a- 
mcndiiunt was ratified by the Legislature of the States in the 
manner prescribed by the Constitution. The proclamation 
was ratified according to military warfare by the surrender at 
Appomattox. Each depended and depends for its efficacv 
upon the power of the people of the United States to maintain 
their provisions. The thirteenth amendment was not ?u'ccs- 
sary to the abolition of the status of slavery. It performed 
the office of an entry on tiie journal of the court after the trial, 
charge of the court, and verdict of the jury —a very fitting meth- 
od of perpetuating the issue decicied. 

The United States Supreme Court has thrcns-n light upon 
the question as to when military proclamations of the President 
are to be considered as having taken effect. In a leading 
case the proclamation was one removing restrictions upon trade 
and commerce. It bore date June 24, 1S65. It was not 
published MXiXW ]vLn& 2-] , 1865— three days later. A divided 
Court held that the proclamation took effect as of its date. 
The dissenting opinion contended it could not take effect until 



76 EMANCIPATION : 

publication — the reasoning of both sides of the Court being 
based upon the ground that proclamations of the President 
were like statutes in their nature. 

The most authoritative decision of the Supreme Court, and 
the one nearest related to the Proclamation of Emancipation, 
occurs in the opinion rendered in the famous " Slaughtei'-House 
Cases. " The proclamation was not directly in question, and 
therefore what is said by the Court in regard thereto is in its 
character obiter dictum. It is not out of place to give a brief 
quotation. The thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were be- 
fore the Court for construction. The Court say : " In that 
struggle [ the war of the rebellion ] slavery, as a legalized, social 
relation, perished. It perished as a necessity of the bitterness 
and force of the conflict. When the armies of freedom found 
themselves upon the soil of slavery, they could do nothing less 
than free the poor victims whose enforced servitude was the 
foundation of the quarrel. And when, hard pressed in the 
contest, these men ( for they proved themselves men in that 
terrible crisis) offered their services and were accepted by thou- 
sands to aid in suppressing the unlawful rebellion, slavery was 
at an end wherever the Federal Government succeeded in that 
purpose. The proclamation of President Lincoln expressed 
an accomplished fact as to a large portion of the insurrection- 
ary districts when he declared slavery abolished in them all. 
But'the war being over, those who had succeeded in reestablish- 
ing the authorit}' of the Federal Government were not content 
to permit this great act of emancipation to rest on the actual 
results of the contest, or the proclamation of the Executive, 
both of which might have been questioned in after-times, and 
they determined to place this main and most valuable result in 
the Constitution of the restored Union as one of its fundamen- 
tal articles. Hfence the thirteenth article of amendment of 
that instrument. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 77 

It is very interesting in this connection to Icnow how the 
proclamation has been construed and regarded by the Supreme 
Courts of these States in rebellion — the States immediately af- 
fected by it. As might be expected, the proclamation has 
been before those Courts for construction. A careful exami- 
nation of all the reports of those States, issued since the rebel- 
lion, discloses that the proclamation has been passed upon di- 
rectly or indirectly in all of these Courts. Generally speaking, 
the effect of the proclamation has been considered indirectly, in 
connection with other questions, so that the cases are few where 
the Court has passed upon the proclamation directly. Some 
of the Courts have made decisions, bearing upon it, and then 
have reconsidered their decisions, leaving the question open. 
All of the Courts recognize, without qualification, that slavery- 
has been abolished. According to the latest decisions, it is 
held in Georgia that it is unnecessary to decide ivlieu slavery 
was abolished. In Mississippi, say the Court, " It has not yet 
[ 1870] been adjudicated by the Courts of this State at what pre- 
cise time slavery was abolished." In South Carolina and 
Virginia the Courts have distinctly held that slavery was not a 
bolished by the Emancipation Proclamation, but that emanci- 
pation was brought about by the war and by conquest. The 
Supreme Court of Louisiana hss expressly decided that slavery 
was abolished by the Emancipation Proclamation as of its date, 
January i, 1863. In Texas, the precise question arose in " The 
Emancipation Cases, " decided in 1868. The Court were divid- 
ed in opinion — three holding that slavery was not abolished by 
the proclamation. Two of the judges held that slavery zvas 
abolished by the proclamation, as of January i, 1863. The 
dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Hamilton in this case is a re- 
markable exhibition of learning, logic and legal acumen. The 
majority opinion in this case was subsequently questioned, and 
the date of emancipation is now an open one in Texas. The 



78 EMANCIPATION : 

Supreme Court of Alabama has delivered the clearest decision 
of all, to the effect that slavery was abolished January i, i863,by 
the proclamation. The Court held: "The emancipation of 
slaves in this State is a fact which will be judicialh' noticed by 
the Courts, and it must be referred to some particular date. It 
was effected by the nation and not by the State. The only 
national act that decreed it was the proclamation of the Presi- 
dent, of the is/ of January, 1863. The struggle afterward was 
merely an effort to prevent the proclamation from being carried 
into effect, and the total failure of the struggle refers emancipa- 
tion back to that date. " The question afterward arose in this 
Court, when the da/e of emancipation seemed to be questioned, 
although this decision was reaffirmed. But Mr. Justice Peters 
delivered a dissenting opinion, rearguing for the full validity 
and effect of the proclamation as of its date. His opinion 
displays great learning and good sense. In support of his rea- 
soning he cites the case of iMc llvaine t's. Coxe, decided by the 
United States Supreme Court, where it was held that the De- 
claration of Independence took effect as of its date; July 4, 1776, 
instead of September 3, 1783, when independence was officially 
recognized. 

Viewed as to its results, the Emancipation Proclamation 
was an overshadowing and glorious success. It united the 
friends of the Union. It threw into despairing forces new 
life. It brought into the armies of the Union as by magic one 
hundred and eighty thousand soldiers from the enfranchised race. 
It was the death-blow to slavery, not only in the sections em- 
braced in the proclamation, but in the other slave-holding 
States, for these other slave-holding States at once proceeded 
to adopt constitutional amendments abolishing slavery. It 
was a finishing stroke to the rebellion. Without the procla- 
mation, is it not safe to presume that the Union would have 
perished.'* 

Therefore are these conclusions irresistible: that President 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 79 

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was not contrary to inter- 
national law ; that by its own force it abolished slavery as of the 
date on which it was issued, viz. , January r, 1863 ; that it was in 
the strictest sense constitutional ; and that no constitutional a- 
mendment was necessary to make the proclamation valid or ef- 
fectual, or to abolish the status of slavery. 

The immortal Lincoln was in no sense a smatterer. He 
was a profound reasoner. He was learned in the law. He 
studied and understood the Constitution of his country. He 
did not issue proclamations for sport, or to be hooted at. He 
did not toy with the mighty concerns of a republic. His every 
act was governed by the sincerest convictions guided b}^ con- 
science. He was eminently a statesman. Patriotism and heroism 
were his crowning virtues. Whatever he did as President was 
done "to save the Union. " 

Edward Everett, at the great Emancipation meet- 
ing in Faoeuil Hall, Boston, in a lengthy ai.d forcible 
speech, said : " It is very doubtful whether any act of 
the government of the United States was necessary to 
liberate the slaves in a State which is in Rebellion. 
There is much reason for the opinion that, by the simple 
act of levying war against the United States, the rela- 
tion of slavery was terminated ; certainly so far as con- 
cerns the duty of the United States to recognize it, or to 
refrain from interfering with it. Not being founded on 
the law of nature, and resting solely on positive local 
law, and that not of the United States — as soon as it 
becomes either the motive or pretext of an unj ust war 
against the Union, — an efficient instrument in the 
hands of the rebels for carrying on the war, — a source of 



80 EMANCIPATION : 

military strength to the Rebellion and of danger to the 
Government at home and abroad ; with the additional 
certainty that in any event but its abandonment, it will 
continue in all future times to work these mischiefs. 
"Who can suppose it is the duty of the United States to 
continue to recognize it? To maintain this would be a 
contradiction in terms. It would be to recognize a 
right in a rebel master to employ his slaves in acts of 
rebellion and treason ; and the duty of the slave to aid 
and abet his master in the commission of the greatest 
crime known to the law. Xo such absurdity can be 
admitted ; and any citizen of the United States, from 
the President down, who should by any overt act, rec- 
ognize the duty of a slave to obey a rebel master, in a 
hostile operation, would himself be giving aid and 
comfort to the enemy." 

Prof. James C. Welling, in his opinion regarding 
the proclamation as extra Constitutional, exhausts the 
subject of its validity, from a stand point of Constitu- 
tional and international law — in conclusion he says: 

" I pass to consider the force and effect of the Proclamation 
viewed in the light of constitutional and of public law. Ana 
here, again, it is necessary to guard against a confusion of ideas. 
The question at issue does not concern the right of a belliger- 
-ent to liberate slaves, J^a^-rau/e bello, by military order accom- 
panied with manucaption, or the right to enlist such hberated 
slaves in his army, so long as the war lasts. The employment 
of colored troops, as has been shown, did not depend on the e- 
mancipation Proclamation, for the President was opposed to 
the arming of negroes when he first embarked on his emanci- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 81 

pation policy. The questions presented by the Proclamation 
of January i, 1863, in the shape actually given to it by Mr. Lin- 
coln, are these: 

Firstly. Had the President of the United States, in the 
exercise of his war powers, a right, under the Constitution and 
by public law, to decree, on grounds of military necessity, the 
emancipation and perpetual enfranchisement of slaves in the 
insurgent States and parts of States.'' 

Secondly. Did such proclamation work, by its own vigor, 
the immediate, the unconditional, and the perpetual emancipa- 
tion of all slaves in the districts affected by it? 

'TJiirdly. Did such proclamation, working proprio vigore, 
not only effect the emancipation of all existing slaves in the in- 
surgent territory, but, with regard to slaves so liberated, did it 
extinguish the status of slavery created by municipal law, inso- 
much that they would have remained forever free, in fact and 
law provided the Constitution and the legal rights and relations 
of the States under it had remained, on the return of peace, 
what they were before the war? 

Unless each and all of these questions can be answered ii;i 
the affirmative, the Emancipation Proclamation was not author- 
ized by the Constitution or by international law, and so far as 
t hey must be answered in the negative it was brtitum fithneti. 
It remains, then, to make inquiry under each of these heads: 

I. As everybody admits that the President, in time of 
peace and in the normal exercise of his constitutional preroga- 
t ives, had no power to emancipate slaves, it follows that the 
right accrued to him, if at all, from the war powers lodged in 
his hands by public law when, as Commander-in-Chief of the 
army and navy, he was engaged in a life-ahd-death struggle 
with insurgents, whose number, power, and legal description, 
gave them the character of public enemies. It is, therefore, 
to public law, as enfolded in time of war and for war purposes 



82 EMANCIPATION 

in the bosom of the Constitution, that we are primarily to look 
for the authority under which the President assumed to act. 

Of international law no less can be said than has been said 
by Webster: " If, for the decision of any question, the proper 
rule is to be found in the law of nations, that law adheres to the 
subject. It follows the subject through, no matter into what 
place, high or low. You can not escape the law of nations in a 
case where it is applicable. The air of every judicature is full 
of it. It pervades the courts of law of the highest character, 
and the courloi pie poudre, ay, even the constable's court. " 

This international law, with all its belligerent rights, was 
everywhere present as a potent force in the civil war between 
the United States and the Confederate States, so soon as that 
war had assumed such character and magnitude as to give the 
United States the same rights and powers which they might ex- 
ercise in the case of a national or foreign war, and everybody 
admits that it assumed that character after the act of Congress 
of July 13, 1 86 1. But international law, in time of war, is pres- 
ent with its belligerent obligation's, as well as with its belligerent 
rights, and what those obligations are is a matter of definite 
knowledge so far as they are recognized and observed in the 
conduct and jurisprudence of civilized nations. 

The law of postliminy, according to which persons or things 
taken by the enemy are restored to their former state when they 
come again under the power of the nation to which the\^ for- 
merly belonged, was anciently held to restore the rights of the 
owner in the case of a slave temporarily affranchised by milita- 
ry capture. And, if it be admitted that, as regards slaves, this 
fiction of the Roman law has fallen in desuetude under the pres- 
ent practice of nations, it is none the less true that the Govern- 
ment of the United States has earnestly contended, in its in- 
tercourse with other nations, for the substantial principle on 
which the rule is based. We insisted on restoration or restitu- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 85- 

tion in the case of all slaves emancipated !:>)• British command- 
ers in the War of i8i2-'i5, and the justice of our claim under 
the law of nations was conceded by Great Britaia when she 
signed the Treaty of Ghent and when, on the arbitration of 
Russia, she paid a round sum, by way of indemnity, to be dis- 
tributed among the owners of slaves who had been despoiled 
of their slave propert}^ In the face of a precedent so set and so 
adjucated by these great powers acting under the law of nations 
(and one of them subsequently known as the leading anti-slavery 
power of the civilized world, ) it would seem that, as a question 
of law, the first interrogatory must be answered in the negative. 
Slaves temporarily captured to weaken the enemy and to con- 
quer a peace are not lawful prize of war by military proceeings 
alone — proclamation, capture, and deportation. The more ful- 
ly it be conceded that international law, in time and fact of war, 
knows the slave only as a person, the more fully must it be con- 
ceded that this law. by purely military measures, cm take no 
cognizance of him as a chattel, either to preserve or to destroy 
the master's property right under municipal law. It leaves ques- 
tions about the chattel to be settled in another forum, and by 
another judicature than the wager of battle. 

Nor does it help the matter to say that in a territorial civil 
war the Federal Government is clothed with the rights of a con- 
stitutional sovereign in addition to those of a belligerent ; foK, 
though this stt.tement is entirely true, it is not true that both 
of these jurisdictions apply at the same time, or that it is law- 
ful to import the methods and processes of the one into the do- 
main of the other. A government, for instance, may proceed 
against armed rebels by the law of war — killing them in battle 
if it find them in battle array ; by public law, confiscating their 
property; by sovereign constitutional law, condemning them to 
death, for treason, after due trial and conviction. But each of 
these proceedings moves in a sphere of its own, and the methods 



84 EMANCIPATION: 

of the one sphere can not be injected into the sphere of the oth- 
er. It would, for example, be a shocking violation of both con- 
stitutional and public law to shoot down insurgent prisoners of 
war, in cold blood, because they were " red-handed traitors," 
and because they might have been lawfully killed in battle. 
The military capture of a slave and the confiscation of the 
owner's property rights in him fall under separate jurisdictions, 
and they can not both be condensed into the hands of a military 
commander any more than into the hands of a judge. 

2. No principle of public law is clearer than that which 
rules the war rights of a belligerent to be correlative and com- 
mensurate only with his war powers. "To extend the rights of 
military occupation or the limits of conquest by mere intention, 
implication, or proclamation, would be," says Halleck, " estab- 
lishing a paper conquest infinitely more objectionable in its 
character and effects than a /^?/£'r .^/tfr/'rtc/t^" It is only so far 
as and so fast as the conquering belligerent reclaims " enemy ter- 
ritory " and gets possession of " enemy property" that his bel- 
ligerent rights attach to either. And hence, when Mr. Lincoln, 
on the 1st of January, 1863 assumed authority, in the name of 
" military necessity," but without the indispensable occupatio 
bellica, to emancipate slaves in the territory held by the enemy, 
he contravened a fundamental principle of the public law — a 
principle equally applicable to the relations of a territorial civil 
war and of a foreign war. It is important to observe that where 
this principle was guarded by the rights and interests of foreign 
nations, as in the case of the Southern ports of entrj^ while they 
were under the power of the Confederate authority, it was 
sacredly respected by our Government. And in the lights of 
this doctrine it follows that the second of the questions formu- 
lated above must also be answered in the negative ; for as to 
large parts of the South Mr. Lincoln had no de facto power 
when he assumed to liberate slaves both de facto and de jure 
within all the " enemy territory " at that date. "" 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 85 

3. Since the decision of Lord Stowell in the case of the 
slave Grace, it has been an accepted doctrine of jurisprudence 
that the slave character of a liberated slave— liberated by resid- 
ing on free soil— is redintegrated by the voluntary return of 
such slave to the country of the master. Unless, therefore, the 
Proclamation of Freedom is held to have extinguished the 
status of slavery in the States and parts of States affected by it, 
it would have conferred a very equivocal boon on its beneficia- 
ries. For, unless the municipal law of slavery were wiped out 
by tne Proclamation, and by conquest under it, what prevented 
a reenslavement of such emancipated blacks as should return to 
their homes after the war ? And this fact was made apparent 
to Mr. Lincoln and to the whole country as soon as an occasion 
arose for bringing the matter to a practical test. 

It was seen that the emancipation'of individual slaves even 
of all individual slaves in the insurgent States, was worth noth- 
ing without an abandonment of slavery itself— of the municipal 
status in which the slave character was radicated, and in which 
it might be planted anew by a voluntary return to the slave soil. 
It was seen, too, that the Proclamation of Freedom, considered 
as a military edict addressed to " rebels in arms," had created a 
misjoinder of parties as well as a misjoinder of issues, for the 
authority which controlled the Confederate armies was not 
competent to "abandon slavery" in the insurgent States, 
though it was competent to restore " peace and union " by sim- 
ply desisting from further hostilities. A misjoinder of issues 
was also created, for each State, under the Constitution as it 
stood, had a right, in the matter of slavery, to order and con- 
trol its own domestic institutions according to its own judg- 
jTient exclusively ; and the nation, by the conquest of its own 
territory, "could ac(iuire no new sovereignty, but merely main- 
tain its previous rights." The Proclamation proposed to leave 
the institution of slavery undisturbed in certain States and parts 



86 



EMANCIPATION : 



of States, while destroying it in certain other States and parts 
of States. Hence, on the supposition that the paper was to 
have full force and efii'ect after the war, while our civil polity re- 
mained the same, a new distribution of powers as between cer- 
tain States and parts of States on the one hand, and the Feder- 
al Goverment on the other, would have been created by edict 
of the Executive. Without any express change in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and without any express change in 
the constitutions of the insurgent States, the status of persons 
on one side of a State line, or even on one side of a county line, 
would have depended on municipal law ; on the other side of 
such State or county line it would have depended on a military 
decree of the President. In this strange mixture of what Taci- 
tus calls " res dissociabiles — principaium ac Hbertatem," it would 
have been hard to tell where the former ended and the latter 
began ; and to suppose that the civil courts, in the ordinary 
course of judicial decision, could have recognized such anoma- 
lies, while the rights of the States under Constitution were still 
defined by that instrument, is to suppose that judges decree 
justice without law, without rule, and without reason. It is 
safe, therefore, to say that the third question above indicated 
must equally be answered in the negative. 

And even if it be held that the President's want of power 
to issue the Proclamation without the accompan3dng occiipatio 
hellica and that the consequent want of efficacy in the paper to 
work emancipation /;7;/;-/f 77>c;;v' were cured by actual con- 
quest undtji- i' ^.n\ the part of the Government, and by actual . 
submission to it on the part of the seceded States, insomuch 
that it would have operated the extinction of the slave status in 
those States, it still remains none the less clear that, without a 
change in the Constitution of the United States prohibiting 
slavery in the South, the Proclamation must have failed, with the 
rights of plenary conquest limited by the Constitution, to insure 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 87 

the perpetual freedom of the slaves liberated under it; for what 
under the rights still reserved to the States, would have pre- 
vented the future reestablishment of slavery at the South after 
the return of peace ? 

Nobody was more quick to perceive or more frank to ad- 
mit the legal weakness and insufficiency of the Emancipation 
Proclamation than Mr. Lincoln. Determined though he was 
never to retract the paper, or by his own act to return to slave- 
ry any person who was declared free by its terms, he saw that, 
in itself considered, it was a frail muniment of title to any slave 
who should claim to be free by virtue of its vigor alone. And 
therefore it was that, with a candor which did him honor, he 
made no pretense of concealing its manifold infirmities either 
from his own eyes or from the eyes of the people, so soon as 
Congress proposed, in a way of undoubted constitutionality and 
of undoubted efficacy, to put an end to slavery everywhere 
in the Union by an amendment to the Constitution. Remark- 
ing on that amendment at the time ot its proposal, he said : " A 
question might be raised whether the Proclamation was legally 
valid. It might be added that it aided only those who came into 
our lines, and that it was inoperative as to those who did not 
give themselves up ; or that it would have no effect upon the 
children of the slaves born hereafter ; in fact, it could be urged 
that it did not meet the evil. But this amendment is a king's 
cure for all evils It winds the whole thing up. " 

In the light of these facts, of these principles, and of Mr. 
Lincoln's own admission, it would seem that the Emancipation 
Proclamation was extra-constitutional— so truly outside of the 
Constitution that it required an amendment to the Constitu- 
tion to bring the President's engagements and promises mside 
of the Constitution. And surely it will not be pretended that 
the President, even on the plea of military necessity, has a 
right to originate amendments to the Constitution, or to wage 



80 EMANCIPATION : 

war on States until they agree to adopt amendments of his 
imposing. This would be to "theorize with bayonets, and to 
dogmatize in blood." This would be to make it competent for 
the President in time of war to alter the fundamental law of 
the land \yy pronunciainietito — a mode of proceeding which falls 
not only outside of the Constitution, but outside of the United 
States — into Mexico. 

The Proclamation fell also outside of the jural relations of 
slavery under international law. Conceding that slaves, in time 
of war, are known under international law only as persons, we 
still have to hold that, as residents of " enemy territory," the 
slaves here in question were, by the terms of that code, as much 
" enemies " of the United States as their masters. But the Pro- 
clamation treated them as friends and allies. In the eyes of 
municipal law, they were property, and the Proclamation ac- 
knowledged them as such in the act of declaring them free ; 
but as such,they were confiscable only by due process of law, 
after manucaption ; and, whether they were confiscated under 
public law, or under sovereign constitutional law, would simply 
depend on the nature and terms of the confiscation act adopted 
by Congress. If they were confiscated as " enemy property " in 
order to weaken the enemy, the act would fall under public law. 
If they were confiscated in order to punish the treason of their 
owners, whereof, such owners had been duly convicted, the act 
would fall under sovereign constitutional law. But the Procla- 
mation assumed to confiscate the property rights of the slave- 
owners without any process of law at all ; and so it fell as much 
outside of public law as it fell outside of constitutional law and 
of municipal law. Nor has any amendment of public law 
as yet brought within the sanctions of international jurispru- 
dence the pretension of a belligerent to alter and abolish, by pro- 
clamation, the political and domestic institutions of a territory 
within which he has, at the time, no de facto power. On the 



ITS COURSB AND PROGRESS. 89 

■contrary, the pretension is traversed by the latest codifications 
of international law, and by the latest publications of our own 
State Department. And hence it is no matter of surprise that 
the first international lawyers of the country, like the Honora- 
-ble William Beach Lawrence, and the first constitutional law- 
yers of the country, like the late Benjamin R. Curtis, have re- 
corded their opinion as jurists against the legality of the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation. 

Lawyers, as Burke said at the beginning of the American 
Revolution, " have their strict rule to go by," and they must 
needs be true to their profession, but "the convulsions of a 
great empire are not fit matter of discussion under a commis- 
sion of Oyer and Terminer." The Emancipation Proclamation 
did not draw its breath in the serene atmosphere of law. It 
was born in the smoke of battle, and its swaddling-bands were 
rolled in blood. It was in every sense of the word a coup d'etat, 
but one which the nation at first condoned, and then ratified by an 
amendment to the Constitution. As Mr. Welles says, " It was 
a despotic act in the cause of the Union " — an act, he adds, "al- 
most revolutionar3%" and it was ^?//;/('5/ and not altogctJicr revo- 
lutionary, simply because it fell short of the practical and legal 
effects at which it was nominally aimed. It was, in fact, mar- 
tial law applied to a question of politics and of polity; and of 
martial law. Sir Matthew Hale has said that "in truth and real- 
ity it is no law at all, but something indulged." If we would 
1 ook for its fountain and source, we must look to an institute 
which makes small account of all human conventions and chart- 
ers — the lex taiionis. The Proclamation was the portentous re- 
taliatory blow of a belligerent brought to bay in a death-grapple, 
and who drops his "elder-squirts charged with rose-water "( the 
phrase is Mr. Lincoln's), that he may hurl a monstrous hand- 
grenade, charged with fulminating powder, full in the faces of 
the foe. The phenomenon is as old as the history of civil war ; 



90 EMANCIPATION. 

and because he saw it was likely to reappear, so long as human 
nature remains the same, Thucydides had a presage that his 
history of the civil war between Athens and Sparta would be "a 
. possession for ever." " War," he wrote. " is a violent master, 
and assimilates the tempers of most mea to the condition in 
which it places them." So Cromwell, in the hour of his politi- 
cal agony, exclaimed against "the pitiful, beastly notion " that 
a government was to be " clamored at and blattered at," because 
it went beyond law in time of storm and stress. 

And there /s something worse than a breach of the Consti- 
tution. It is worse to lose the countr}' for which the Constitu- 
tion was made ; but, if the defense of the Proclamation can be 
rested on this ground, the fact does not require us to teach for 
doctrine of law that which is outside of law and against law. 
Mr. JefTerson held the Louisiana purchase to be extra-constitu- 
tional, but he did not try to bring it inside of the Constitution 
by construction. That he left to others. It seems a waste of 
logic to argue the validity of Mr. Lincoln's edict. It moved 
above law, in the plane of state-craft. Not that its author, in 
so proceeding, moved on the moral plane of the insurgei ts. He 
wrought to save, they to destroy, the Union. Not that he act- 
ed in malice, for, as he protested, the case "was too vast for 
malicious dealing." And not that he clearly foresaw the end 
of his step from its beginning. The fateful times in which he 
acted the foremost part were larger than any of the men who 
lived in them, tall and commandii g as is the figure of the be- 
nign war President, and the ev^ents then moving over the dial 
of history were grander than the statesmen or soldiers who 
touched the springs that made them move. It was a day of el- 
emental stir, and the ground is still qualving beneath our feet, 
under the throes and convulsions of that great social and polit- 
ical change which was first definitely foreshadowed to the 
world by the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln." 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 91 

Mr. Ridpath, the historian, says, "that it the E- 
mancipation Proclamation is to be regarded as the 
cause of the freedom of the African race in the Unit- 
ed States, then indeed must it be considered as a- 
mong the most important documents known to nistory. 
Perhaps the most important. The inexorable logic of 
events was crowding rapidly bringing about the Eman- 
cipation of the slaves. 

The National Grovernment fell under a stringent 
necessity to strike a blow at the labor system of the 
Southern States. "With every struggle of the war the 
sentiment of abolition at the North rose higher and 
higher. 

The President himself and the chief supporters of 
his administration had for years made no concealment 
of their desire that all men everywhere sh ould be free. 
The occasion was at hand, Mr. Lincoln seized and 
generalized the facts, embodied them in his own words,, 
and became for all time the oracle and interpretation 
of national necessity.'' 

Now the answer to the questions. They can best 
be answered by one who took a very conspicuous part 
in bringing about the sequel, in fact, was a pioneer in 
the cause of human rights and emancipation. Henry 
Wilson, in his Anti-Slaver}^ measures in Congress says: 
" The speaker of the House of Representatives on 
the 14th of December, 1863, after announcing the stand- 
ins; committees, stated that the first business in order 



92 EMANCIPATION : 

was the call of the States for bills and joint resolutions. 
Thereupon Mr. Ashley, chairman of the committee on 
Territories, introduced a bill to provide for submitting 
to the States a proposition to amend the Constitution, 
prohibiting slavery." Mr. Wilson of Iowa, submitted 
a similar proposition. These were referred to the Ju- 
diciary committee. 
1864. Ii^ ^-^^ senate on the 11th of January, Mr. Hender- 
son of Missouri, introduced a joint resolution, propos- 
ing an amendment to the Constitution, abolishing 
slavery. Mr. Sumner, on the 8th of February, intro- 
duced a joint resolution in the same body, having for 
its object the abolition of slavery also ; these were re- 
ferred to the Judiciary committee ot the Senate, on 
the 10th, two days after. 

Mr. Trumbull, of 111., Chairman of the Judiciary 
committee, reported adversely on Mr. Sumner's resolu- 
tion. He reported Mr. Henderson's resolution with 
an amendment, which read : 

" That the following article be proposed to the leg- 
islatures of the several States, as an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified 
by three fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid, to 
all intents and purposes as a part of the said Constitu- 
tion ; — namely : 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servatude, ex- 
cept as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall 
have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 93 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 

On the 8th of April the proposition was adopted 
by the Senate by 38 yeas to G nays. During the debate 
Senator Wilson of Mass. said: 

"The crowning act in this series of acts for the restriction 
and extinction of slavery in America, is this proposed amend- 
ment to the Constitution, prohibiting the existence of slavery 
for evermore in the Republic of the United States. If this a- 
mendment shall be incorporated by the will of the nation into 
the Constitution of the United States, it will obliterate the last 
lingering vestiges of the slave system its chattelizing, de- 
grading, and bloody codes; its dark, malignant, barbarizing 
spirit; all it was and is; every thing connected with it or per- 
taining to it — from the face of the nation it has scarred with 
moral desolation, from the bosom of the country it has redden- 
ed with the blood and strewn with the graves of patriotism. The 
incorporation of this amendment into the organic law of the na- 
tion will make impossible for evermore the re-appearing of the 
discarded slave system, and the returning of the despotism of 
the slave-master's domination. Then, sir, when this amend- 
ment to the constitution shall be consummated, the shackle 
will fall from the limbs of the hapless bondman, and the lash 
drop from the weary hands of the task-master. Then the sharp 
cry of the agonizing hearts of severed families will cease to vex 
the weary ear of the nation, and to pierce the ear of Him whose 
judgments are now avenging the wrongs of centuries. Then 
the slave mart, pen, and auction-block, with their clanking fet- 
ters for human limbs, will disappear from the land they have 
brutalized; and the schoolhouse will rise to enlighten the dark- 
ened intellect of a race imbruted by long years of enforced ig- 
norance. Then the sacred rights of human nature, the hallow- 
ed family relations of husband and wife, parent and child, will 



94 EMANCIPATION : 

be protected by the guardian spirit of that law which makes 
sacred ahke the proud homes and lowly cabins of freedom. Then 
the scarred earth, blighted by the sweat and tears of bondage, will 
bloom again under the quickening culture of rewarded toil. Then 
the wronged victim of the slave system, the poor white man, the 
sand-hillcr, the clay-eater, of the wasted fields of Carolina, im- 
poverished, debased, dishonored by the system that makes toil 
a badge of disgrace, and the instruction of the brain and soul 
of man a crime, will lift his abashed forehead to the skies, and 
begin to run the race of improvement, progress and eleva- 
tion. Then the nation, 'regenerated and disinthralled by the 
genius of universal emancipation,' will run the career of devel- 
opment, power, and glory, quickened, animated, and guided by 
the spirit of the Christian democracy, that 'pulls not the high- 
est down, but lifts the lowest up.' " ^^_^ 
On the 31st of May, the proposition was taken up 
by the House of Representatives and debated until the 
15th of June, when, by a vote of 93 yeas to 65 nays, 23 
not voting, the measure was lost. 

President Lincoln in his Message to Congress, De- 
cember,1864, urges the adoption of thexiii amendment, 
rejected at the previous session; on motion of Mr. Ashley 
1865. of Ohio, the House on the 6th of January, took up 
the amendment and after a stubborn opposition the 
measure "was passed on Tuesday, the 31st of January 
1865.* In the House, Mr. Herrick of N. Y., said, clos- 
ing the debate on the amendment : 

"I shall now vote for the resolution, as I formerly voted a- 
gainst it, because I think such action on my part is best calcu- 

* The Secretary of State dates the passage of the amendment, February ist ; this 
date is evidently incorrect. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 95 

lated to assist in the maintenance of the Government, the pre- 
servation of the Union, and the perpetuation of the free institu- 
tions which we inherited from our fathers. 1 may incur the 
censure of some of my party friends on this floor, and perhaps, 
displease some of my respected constituents ; but to me the 
country of my birth, and the Government under whose benign 
protection I have enjoyed all the blessings of liberty , and under 
which, restored to more than all its original splendor, and 
strengthened and purified by the trials through which it has 
passed, I expect my children's children to enjoy the same bless- 
i ngs long after my mortal frame shall have mouldered into dust 
is dearer to me than friends or party or political position. Firm 
in the consciousness of right, I know that posterity will do me 
justice, and feel that no descendant of mine will ever blush at 
the sight of the page on which my vote is recorded in favor of 
country, government, liberty, and progress. " 

Notwithstanding slavery had been abolished in the 
territories, and in the District of Columbia, Congress 
had by act given freedom to the Negro soldiers, their 
wives and children ; the states of Maryland, West Vir- 
ginia and Missouri, had emancipated their slaves, al- 
though the President's Emancipation Proclamation ; 
the reorganized state governments of Tennessee, Vir- 
ginia and Louisiana had aimed a blow at slavery, yet 
it existed in Delaware and Kentucky, hence the thirty 
eighth Congress, acting upon the advice of President 
Lincoln, passed, and the legislature of the States ratifi- 
ed, the thirteenth amendment, thereby making it a part 
of the organic law of our country. 

Gradually, human slavery, as an institution, disap- 
pears from all governments called civilized. 



The Cause and Progress 
of Emancipation. 



98 EMANCIPATION : 

THE CAUSE Aj^D PROGRESS OF 
EMANCIPATION. 



The most notable 'events in the history of the Uni- 
ted States are their successful emancipation from the 
control of Great Britain — the emancipation of 4,000,000 
Negro slaves, and the total extinction of slavery by re- 
volution and civil war ; this, however, was not accom- 
plished without the most bitter opposition upon the 
part of many whose fortunes were cast with the States. 
In the late war there were three distinct parties or 
classes of citizens in the Northern or free States, each 
claiming the war to be unnecessary, and after two years 
of struggle for the mastery between the Northern and 
Southern armies, attended with the loss of thousands 
of lives, and an expenditure of millions of dollars, the 
Union army penetrating deeper and deeper into the 
Southern territory, even then these parties demanded the 
cessation of hostilities and a return to peace at any price. 
"Who were they that composed these parties? First, a 
considerable number of citizens, too ignorant of the his- 
tory ot the country, to know what the conflict was a- 
bout, and then a smaller class, though better informed 
than the first mentioned, but without moral compre- 
hension of the uncompromising opposition of slave so- 
ciety to ema ncipation, they adhered to the belief that 
between these opposing elements a substantial comprom- 
ise could be efiected. The other class composed of buck- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 



99 



stering politicians and office seekers whose eftbrts were 
to so control the other two classes as to clog the wheels 
of the Federal Government, and compel a surrender to 
the rebels, they dictating the terms, either a separation 
from the United States, or a re onstruction of the se- 
ceded States, with their old power of aristocratic 
society. 

My aim is to show in these pages not only the 
fallacy of these positions, but by facts the progress of 
emancipation in the different positions of the country, 
previous to the late war. 

A careful study of the census of 1860, will show 
conclusively that the slave power, in order to preserve 
itself from annihilation by the prodigious growth and 
powerful influence of Republicanism, attempted to de- 
stroy the Union of the United States, thus following in 
the identical rut springing from the same necessity, 
having a common origin with all great conflicts that 
have taken place between freedom and slavery since 
the establishment of governments on earth. History 
proves beyond a doubt that the advancing spirit of free- 
dom has always been met by a relentless war waged 
by the oppressorsof mankind— just such as the aristocracy 
of our land set up against the advancement of the peo- 
ple's emancipation from the thraldom of the slave power. 
In the evolution a continuous struggle goes on ever be- 
tween Democracy and Aristocracy, either in the inter- 
est of self-government or an imperial rule that finally 



100 emancipation: 

rests upon the suffrage ot the people which, eventually, 
burst into civil war, and leaves the people nearer if not 
in complete emancipation. 

The Northern Grecian states represented the cause 
of the people ; and the oriental empires the cause of the 
few. These little states grew so rapidly that the des- 
pots of Asia became alarmed, and organized gigantic 
expeditions to destroy them. At Marathon and Sala- 
mis, the people's cause met and drove back the mighty 
invasion ; and two hundred years later, under the lead 
of Alexander, dissolved every Asiatic empire, from the 
Mediterranean to the Euphrates, to its original elements. 

Julius Caisar destroyed the power of the old Ro- 
man aristocracy in the interest of the people of the Ro- 
man empire. Under the name of 'The Republic,' that 
patrician class had oppressed the people of Rome and 
her provinces for years as never was people oppressed 
before. After fifty years of civil war, Julius and Agus-^ 
tus Caesar organized the masses of this world-wide em- 
pire, and established a government under which the 
aristocracy was fearfully worried, but which adminis- 
tered such justice to the world as had never before been 
possible. 

The religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeeth 
centuries, which involved the whole of Europe for eigh- 
ty years, were begun by the civil and religious aristoc- 
racy of Europe to crush the progress of religious and civ- 
il liberty among the people. These wars continued un- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 101 

til religious freedom was established in Germany, Hol- 
land, and Great Britan, and those seeds of political lib- 
erty sown that afterward sprang up in the American 
republic. 

The English civil wars of the seventeenth century 
were begun by the king and great nobles to suppress 
the rising power of the commons, and continued till 
constitutional liberty was practically secured to all the 
subjects of the British empire. 

The French Revolution was the revolt of the peo- 
ple of France against one of the most cruel and tyran- 
cal aristocracies that ever reigned ; and continued with 
brief interruptions, till the people of both France and 
Ital}" had emancipated themselves and vindicated the 
right to choose their emperors by popular suffrage. 

During the half century between the years 1775 
and 1825, the people in North America threw off the 
power of a foreign aristocracy by war, and established 
a republican form of government, except the Cauadas, 
which secured the same practical results by more peace- 
ful methods. 

The historian perceives that each of these great 
wars was an inevitable condition of liberty and eman- 
cipation for the people. In all these struggles there 
were the'same kinds of opponents to the war: the ig- 
norant, who knew nothing about it ; the morally indif- 
ferent, who could not see why freemen and tyrants 
could not agree to live together in amity; and the dem- 
agogues, who were willing to ruin the country to exalt 



102 EMANCIPATION : 

themselves. Bat we now understand that only throusjh 
these red gates of war could the people of the world 
have marched up to their present enjoyment of liberty 
and emancipation, that each flaming portal is a tri- 
umphal arch, on which is inscribed the great conquest 
for mankind — emancipation . 

The late civil war in the United States was the last 
frantic attempt of this dying feudal aristocracy to save 
itself from inevitable dissolution. The election of Mr. 
Lincoln as President of the United States, in 1860, by 
the vote of every Free State, was the announcement to 
the world that the people of the United States had fi- 
nally and decisively conquered the feudal aristocracy of 
the republic after a civil contest of eighty years. With 
no weapons but those placed in their hands by the Con- 
stitution of the United States, the freemen of the re- 
public had practically put this great slave aristocracy 
under their feet forever. That portion of the Union 
which was controlled by the will of the whole people 
had become so decidedly superior in every attribute of 
power and civilization, that the slave aristocracy de- 
spaired of further peaceful resistance to the march of 
liberty through the land — like every other aristocracy 
that has lived, it drew the sword against the people 
either to subdue the whole country, or carry off a por- 
tion of it to be governed in the interest of the slave 
oligarchy, of 300,000. Had the people of the North by 
tyranical legislation, or abuse of power, incited the 
Southern aristocracy to wrath, they would have had a 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 103 

pretext for taking up iirms,other tliau that of supposition 
of unfair play; the sparks that exploded their magazine 
came from the tire^ of liberty and emincipation— this 
was the real cau-^e of the war — the. p:ajefal, constitatioa - 
al triumph of the people over the aristo'jracy of the repablie , 
after a struggle of eighty years. If ever a great oligarchy 
had good reason to fight, it was the Slave Power in 
1860. It found itself defeated and condemned to a sec- 
ondary position in the republic,with the assurance that 
its death was only a question of time. It is always a 
good cause for war to an aristocracy that its power is a- 
bridged ; for an aristocracy cares only for itself, and 
honestly regards its own supremacy as the chief inter - 
est on earth. This Slave Power only done what every 
such power has done since the foundation of the world ^ 
It drew the sword against the inevitable progress of 
mankind, but was conquered by mankind. It waged a 
terrible war, not against ISTorthern Abolitionists, or the 
Administration, but against the United States census 
tables 0/I86O ; against the mighty realities of the pro - 
gress of free society in the republic, which startled all ; 
but with which no class of men were so well acquaint- 
ed as Mr. Jefferson Davis and his associates in rebellion . 
There was always a conflict in our country be- 
tween this old slave aristocracy and the people. The 
first great victory of the people was in the war of the 
Pevolution, That war was inaugurated and forced up 
on the country by the masses of the people of the Xew 
England and Middle States. The aristocracy of the 



104 emancipation: 

South, with their associates in the North, resisted the 
movement to separate the people from the crown of 
Great Britain, till resistance was impossible, and then 
came in, to some extent, to lead the movement and ap- 
propriate the rewards of success. But the free people 
of the North brought on and sustained the war. Massa- 
chusetts was then the fourth province in population ; 
but she sent eight thousand more soldiers to the field 
during those bloody eight years than all the Southern 
States united. Virginia was then the empire State of 
the Union, and Rhode Island the least ; but Virginia 
furnished only seven hundred more soldiers than little 
Rhode Island. New England furnished more than 
half the troops raised during the Revolution ; and the 
great centres of aristocracy in the Middle and South- 
ern States were the stronghold of Toryism during the 
war. Indeed, a glance at the map of the Eastern and 
Middle States reveals the fact that the head-quarters of 
the ' peace party ' in the Revolutionary and the late 
'war were in precisely the same localities. The ' Copper- 
head ' districts of iNew York, New Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania were the old Tory districts of the Revolution. 
The Tories of that day, with the mass of the Southern 
aristocracy, tried to ' stop the war ' which was to lay 
the foundations of the freedom of all men. The Tories 
in the war of 1860, were engaged in the same infamous 
enterprise, and their fate was the same. 

Had the Slave Power been united in 1776, Ameri- 
■ca never would have gained her independence. But it was 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 



105 



divided. Every State was nominally a Slave State ; 
but slaveholders were divided into two classes. The 
first was led by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and 
other illustrious aristocrats, North and South ; and, like 
the Liberal lords of Great Britain, threw their influ- 
ence on the side of the people. This party, very strong 
in Virginia, very weak in the Carolinas, dragged the 
South through the war by the hair of its head, and 
compelled it to come into the Union. It also resolved 
to abolish the Slave Power, and succeeded in consecra- 
ting the whole I^orthwestern territory to freedom as 
early as 1790. The opposition party had its headquar- 
ters at Charleston, was treasonable or lukewarm during 
the war, and refused to come into the Union without 
guarantees for slavery. 

The result of the whole struggle was, that the peo- 
ple of the thirteen colonies, with the help of a portion 
of their aristocracy, severed the country from Great 
Britain, and established a Government by which 
they, the people, believed themselves able, in time, 
to control the whole Union, and secure personal liberty 
in every State. For ' the compromises of the Constitu- 
tion ' mean just this: that our ISTational Government 
was a great arena on which aristocracy and democracy 
could have a free fight. If the aristocracy beat, that Gov- 
ernment would be made as despotic as South Carolina ; 
if the democracy triumphed, it would become as free 
as Massachusetts. That was what the people had never 



106 EMANCIPATION : 

before achieved : a free field to loorkfor a Christian demo- 
cracy and Emancipation. God bless the sturdy people of 
l^ew England and the Middle States for this ! G-od bless 
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, John Mar- 
shall and the liberal gentlemen of the Old Dominion, 
for helping the people do it. They did not win the 
victory, as many have supposed ; but they bravely help- 
ed to lead the people of the Free States to this great 
military and civil achievement. Virginia was richly paid 
for the service of her aristocracy. But history tells us 
who did the work, and how nobly it was done. 

The republic was now established, with a Consti- 
tution which might be made to uphold a Republican 
or an aristocratic government, as either party should 
triumph. The Slave Power, forced half reluctantly in- 
to the Union, now began to conspire to rule it for its 
own uses. All that was necessary, it thought, was to 
unite the aristocracy against the people. And this 
work was at once well begun. The first census was taken 
in 1790, and the last before the war in 1860. This period 
divides itself, historicall}^, into two portions. The 
thirty years from 1790 may be regarded as the period 
of the consolidation of the Slave Power.; and its first dis- 
tinct appearance as a great sectional aristocracy in 1820, 
in the struggle that resulted in the ' Missouri Compromise.^ 
The forty years succeeding 1820 may be called the peri- 
od of the consolidation of freedom to resist this assault, and 
the final triumph of Republicanism in 1860, by the 
election of a President. 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 107 

The lirst thirty years was a period of incessant ac- 
tivity by tlie slave aristocracy. It incurred a nominal 
loss in the abolition of slavery in eight Eastern and 
Middle States, and the consecration ot the great iSTorth- 
westeru territory to freedom ; out of wliich three great 
Free States had already been carved; making, in 1820, 
eleven Free States. But it had gained by the concen- 
tration of its power below the line of the Ohio and 
Pennslyvania boundary, the division of the territory 
beloL^ging to the Carolinas,and the Louisiana purchase; 
whereby it had gained live new Slave States ; making 
the number of Slave States equal to the Free — eleven. 
It put forward the liberal aristocracy of Virginia to 
occupy the Presidential chair during thirty-two of the 
thirty-six years between 1789 and 1825 ; thus compell- 
ing Virginia and Maryland to a firm alliance with it- 
self. It had manoeuvred the country through a great 
political struggle and a foreign war, both of which were 
chiefly engineered to secure the consolidation of the 
slave aristocracy. In 1820 its power wa& extended in 
eleven States, containing four hundred and twenty- 
four thousand square miles, with one hundred and sev- 
enty nine thousand square miles of territory, sure to 
come in as Slave States; and the remainder of the 
Louisiana purchase not secure to liberty. It had a 
white population only seven hundred thousand less, 
while its white and black population was a million 
more than all the Free States. 



108 EMANCIPATION : 

The Xorth was barely half as large in area ot 
States: two hundred and seventy thousand square miles, 
with only one hundred thousand square miles in reserve 
of the territory dedicated to liberty. With an equali- 
ty of representation in the Senate of the United States, 
and a firm hold of all the branches of the Government, 
the prospect of the oligarchy for success was brilliant. 
In every nation the aristocracy first gets possession, or- 
ganizes first, and proceeds deliberately to seize and ad- 
minister the goyernraent. The people are always un- 
suspicious, slow, late in organizing, and seem to blun- 
der into success or be led to it by a Providence higher 
than themselves. In this Government the slave aristo- 
carcy first consolidated, and in 1820 appeared boldly on 
the arena, claiming the superiority, and threatening 
ruin to the republic in the event of the failure of their 
plans. It had managed so well that there was no divi- 
sion in its ranks, and for forty years moved forward in 
solid column to repeated assaults on liberty. 

The people did not suspect the existence of this 
concentrated power till 1820. They made a brave mi- 
litia fight then against the aristocracy, 'and compelled 
it to acknowledge a drawn battle by the admission of 
Maine to balance Missouri, and the establishment of a 
line of compromise, which would leave all territory 
north of 36 degs. 80 min., consecrated to freedom. The 
Slave Power submitted with anger, intending to break 
the bargain as soon as it was strong enough, and con- 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 109 

tinned on its relentless struggle for power. It deter- 
mined to gain possession of the Senate of the United 
States ; make it a house ot nobles ; control through it 
the foreign policy, the Executive, and the Supreme 
Court ; and, with this advantage, reckoned it could al- 
ways manage the House ot Representatives and govern 
the Nation. The key to all the political policy of the 
Slave Power through these forty years, was its endeav- 
or to capture the Senate of the United States, and hold 
it, by bringing in a superior number of Slave States. So 
well did it play this card that, till 1850, it maintained 
an equality of senatorial representation, and by the 
help of I^orthern allies and the superior political dexter- 
ity of the aristocracy, controlled our foreign policy; 
kept its own representatives in all the great courts of 
Europe ; made peace or war at will : managed the Ex- 
ecutive through a veto on his appointments ; and en- 
deavored to till the Supreme Court with men in favor 
of its policy, while the House of Representatives never 
w^as able to pass a measure without its consent. ' Under 
the forty years' reign of the Slave Power, the Senate 
of the United States was a greater farce in the republic 
than the crown and House of Lords in the British em- 
pire. Indeed, so well did this aristocracy play its part, 
that it was supposed by the lohole world to be the American 
Government; and the news that the people of the Uni- 
ted States refused, in 1860, to register its behests, was 
received abroad with the same astonishment and indig- 



110 EMANCIPATION. 

nation as if there had been a revolt of the subjects of 
some European nation against their anointed rulers. 

But spite of these great advantages at the outset — 
spite of its incredible political activity and admirable 
concentration, the slave aristocracy was finally defeat- 
ed by the people. How this was done is a most interest- 
ing narrative in modern histor3^ ISTever has the intrin- 
sic superiority of a democratic over an aristocratic or- 
der of society been so magnificently vindicated as du- 
ring that forty years ofour national career. During that 
period the free portion of this Union grew to an over- 
whelming superiority over the slave portion, and com- 
pelled the slaveholders to draw the sword to save them- 
selves from material and providential destruction. 

This period of forty years may be regarded as that 
of the consolidation of the people. The first thirty years of 
it was the era of their industrial and social consolidation; 
the following ten years was the period of their j^oUtical 
union against the Slave Power. 

An aristocracy always exhibits the uttermost pitch 
of human policy in its career, and amazes aud outwits 
society by its marvellous display of executive ability. 
But the i>cople are always moved by great supernatural 
forces that are beyond their comprehension, often dis- 
owned or scorned by them, but which mould their des- 
tiny and lead them to a victory spite of themselves. 
The people always grow without conscious plan or 
method, and rarely know their own strength. But 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. Ill 

there are always a few great men who represent their 
destiny, and, often against their will, direct them in 
the path to liberty. History will record the names of 
three great men who, during these forty years, were 
the most notable figures in this consolidation of the 
people in this republic ; three men that the implacable 
hatred of the Slave Power singled out from all other 
Northern men as special objects of infamy ; men who 
represented the industrial, moral, and political phases 
of the people's growth to supremacy. Each came when 
he was wanted, and faithfully did his work ; and their 
history is the chronicle of this advance of liberty and 
emancipation in the republic. 

The first of these men was De Witt Clinton, of 
ISTew York. 'No i^orthern man so early discovered the 
deep game of the Slave Power as he. He was the 
ablest statesman of the North in the days when the ar- 
istocracy of the South was just eflfecting its consolida- 
tion. He was a prominent candidate for the Presidency 
and was scornfully put down by the power that ruled 
aT Richmond. The slaveholders knew him for their 
clear-headed enemy, and drove him out of the arena of 
national politics. Never was political defeat so auspi- 
cious. Cured of the political ambition of his youth, Mr. 
Clinton turned the energies of his massive genius to the 
industrial consolidation of the North. He saw that all fu- 
ture political triumph of liberty must rest on the tri- 
umph of free labor. He anticipated the coming great- 



112 EMANCIPATION : 

ness of the Northwest, and boldl}^ devoted his life to the 
iuauguration of that system of internal improvements 
which made the JSTorthern States a mighty, free indus- 
trial empire. Within the period of ten years lying 
nearest 1820, the people, under the lead of Clinton and 
his associates, had brought into active operation the 
three great agencies of free labor — the steamer, the 
canal, the railroad ; while the manufacturing, industry 
dates from the same period. 

This was the providential movement of a great 
people, organizing a method of labor which should 
overthrow the American aristocracy. Of course the 
people did not know what all this meant ; thousands 
of the men who were foremost in organizing Northern 
industry did not suspect the end ; but De Witt Clinton 
knew. The wiseacres of New York nicknamed his 
canal ' Clinton's Ditch.' It was the first ditch in that 
series of continental ' parallels ' by which the people of 
the North approached the citadel of the Slave 
Power. They dug in those vast intrenchments for for- 
ty years, to such purpose that in 1860 the great guns 
of free labor commanded every plantation in the Union. 
The Northern spade was a slow machine — but it shovel- 
ed the slave aristocracy into the Gulf of Mexico, 

Glance over this field of industrial and material 
growth in the free portion of the Union, as it appeared 
in 1860. 

At that time the Free States had increased to 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 113 

nineteen, wnile the Slave States were fifteen, contain- 
ing eight hundred and seventy-five thousand square 
miles. The people had nine hundred and fifty thousand 
square miles organized into free-labor States, with eight 
vast Territories, containing one million square miles, 
an area equal to twenty-tour States as large as New 
York. In this vast extent of States and Territories, 
including two thirds the land of the Union, there were 
not a hundred slaves. 

Look at the position and value of these possessions 
of freedom. In 1850 liberty secured the great State of 
Calitornia, and in 1860 the State of Kansas. These 
States insured the possession of the whole Pacific coast 
the entire mineral wealth of the mountains, the Indian 
Territory, and the vast spaces of IsTorthwestern Texas 
to freedom, and opened Mexico to !N"orthern occupation. 
In the East, freedom had already secured the best har- 
bors for commerce ; in the IS'orthwest, the granary of 
the world ; the inexhaustible mineral wealth of Lake 
Superior, and the navigation of thousands of miles up- 
on the great inland seas that separate the Republic from 
the Canadas. From the Northern Atlantic and the 
Pacific it commanded the trade of Europe and Asia. 

Freedom had secured, in 1860, a population of 
twenty millions, while the Slave Power had reached 
but twelve millions, one third of whom were slaves. 
From 1850 to 1860 the Union gained almost as much 
in population as the entire census of 1820 ; and of that 



114 BMANCIPATION : 

gain the North secured forty-one and the South but 
twenty-seven per cent. The slave population increased 
but twenty-three per cent. Between 1820 and 1860 
five million emigrants reenforced the Union, of which 
the North received the greater portion. Between the 
war of 1814 and 1860, Great Britain and Ireland sent to 
the U. S., more people than inhabited the thirteen States 
that formed the Uraon, and of this immigrant popula- 
tion there was an excess of nine hundred and fifty thou- 
sand men — a nation poured in upon the great, free 
North, to reenforce the people. 

Already was this increase of free population tell- 
ing upon slave labor in Slave States. Even in the Gulf 
cities slavery was fast receding before the brawn}^ arms 
of Hans and Patrick. Nortliwestern Texas was be- 
coming a new Germany. Western Virginia, Mary- 
land, Missouri, and Delaware were rapidly losing in 
slave labor ; while along the border had grown up a 
line of ten cities in Slave States, containing six hun- 
dred thousand people, of whom less than ten thousand 
were slaves. This line of cities, from Wilmington, 
Delaware, to St. Louis, Missouri, was becoming a great 
cordon of free-labor citadels ; supported in the rear by 
another line of Free Border-State cities, stretching 
from Philadelphia to Leavenworth, containing nine 
hundred thousand ; thus massing a free population of one 
million five hundred thousand in border cities that over- 
looked the land of despotism. 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 115- 

Then consider the growth of free agriculture. In 
1860 the South had a cotton and rice crop as herexcUi- 
sivc possession. Ah^eady the Northwest was encroaching 
upon her sugar cultivation. Against her agriculture, 
mainly supported by one great staple, which could also 
be cultivated all round the globe, the free North could 
oppose every variety of crop ; several of greater value 
than the boasted cotton. In all the grains, in cattle 
and the products of the dairy, in hay, in fruits ; in the 
superior cultivation of land ; in the vastly superior val- 
ue of land; in agricultural machinery,probably represent- 
ing a labor force equal to all the slaves — the superiority 
of freedom was too evident for discussion. The value 
of agricultural machine-ry in the Free States had trebled 
between 1850 andlSQO. The Homestead Law was the 
fit result of this vast advance of free labor, and sealed 
the destiny of eveiy Territorj^ of the Union. 

Then contemplate the vast expansion of manu- 
facturing industry, of which nine tenths belong to the 
Free States. In ten years from 1850 to 1860, this branch 
of labor had increased eighty-six ^jer c-e^iif., reaching the 
enormous sum of $2,000,000,000 ; $60 for every inhab- 
itant of the Union. A million and a half of people 
were engaged as operatives therein, supporting nearly 
five millions — one sixth of the whole population of the 
Union ; while fully one third of our population was di- 
rectly and indirectly living by manufactures. 

The increase of iron manufactures in ten years was 



116 EMANCIPATION : 

forty-four per cent.; the coal mines reached a treble 
yield in ten years; $10,000,000, of clothiv.g were pro- 
duced in 1860. The lumber trade had increased sixty- 
four per cent, in ten years, reaching $100,000,000. Flour- 
ing mills ghowed sixty-five per cent, increase, reaching 
$225,000,000; spirits, $24,000,000; cotton manufac- 
tures had increased seventy-six per cent, in ten years, 
reaching $115,000,000 ; woollens had increased sixty- 
seven per cent. ; boots and shoes walked up to $76,000- 
000, and leather to $63,000,000. The fishermen of New 
England increased mightily. The gold of California, 
the copper of the Northwest, the salt of New York and 
Michigan had reached colossal proportions. Whoever 
studies the manufacturing statistics of the North for 
the ten years from 1850 to 1860 will be at no loss 
to know why the manufacturers of Great Britain were 
willing to sever the Slave States from the Union, to 
gain a customer the North was thus supplying in 1860. 
Now add to this array of agriculture, manufac- 
tures, extent of territory, and excess of population, the 
superiority of thv. Free States in commerce. The ton- 
nao-e of the Union was twentv-six millions in 1860, the 
fourth of which was the growth of the ten years pre- 
vious. Out of the one thousand and seventy-one ships 
built in 1860, the ' nation ' of South Carolina produced 
one steamer and one schooner ! Contemplate the money 
power, the vast capital invested in trade, in banks, in- 
surance, and the like, .n the North. The slave aristoc- 
racy was becoming imprisoned in a vast web of finan- 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. IIT 

cial dependence— a web that war and wholesale repudi- 
ation of debts alone could break through. 

In 1860 there were in the Union 30,600 miles of 
railroad, costing $1,134,452,909, four times the extent 
of 1850. In 1850 only one line of railroad connected 
the Atlantic with the Mississippi. Now, of the eight 
great railroad and canal routes connecting the sea coast 
with this valle}^, six run through the Free States ; 
transportation on these avenues coast but one tenth the 
old methods. Governor Letcher ot Va., declared the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ' abolitiouized ' Northern 
and Western Virginia, and the Southern rebellion was 
especially savage on railroads. Whoever would under- 
stand one secret ot the consolidation of the people 
should study the railroad map of the Northern States, 
and contrast it with the South. It was a fine tribute 
to the value of the railroad that the first use the people 
made of their new political supremacy in 1860 was to 
pass the bill for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific 
by the iron rail and the telegraphic wire. 

This vast advancement in free labor, from 1820 to 
1850, was fitly closed in 1850 by the annexation of Cal- 
ifornia to the roll of the Free States, securing to liberty 
the gold mines and the Pacific coast. It is impossible 
to comprehend all the consequences of this step. It 
was the decisive industrial triumph of the people over 
the slave aristocracy. The Slave Power went mad over 
the defeat, and for ten years virtually abandoned the ri- 
valry of industries^ and turned to violence^ breaking of 



118 



emancipation: 



compromises, forcible seizure of the ballot box, repudi- 
ation of debts, finally cruel war, as if fraud and vio- 
lence, in the long run, could upset free and honest in- 
dustry. After the loss of California and the Pacific 
coast, the struggle for the Territories was but a prelim- 
inary skirmish of the war for the conquest and desola- 
tion of the Union. The people waged the battle of liber- 
ty icith the gigantic agencies of jnaierial prosperity for for- 
ty years, and the aristocracy was completely in their powsr. 
For this material superiority of the free-labor 
States inevitably inured to the advantage of liberty. 
In vain did every new Free State, year after year, 
vote with the Slave Power ; in vain did every great 
rail- road and manufacturing corporation of the A'orth 
obey the political behests of the lords of the plantations; 
in vain was the mercantile aristocracy of all the great 
cities the fast friend of the slave aristocracy ; and vain- 
ly did almost the entire immigrant population fall po- 
litically into its control. All this was nothing against 
the irresistable naturcd tendency of free labor. The Irish- 
man who voted against the Negro was breaking his 
chain with every blow of his pick. The Wall street bank- 
er, the great railroad king,the cotton manufacturer, who 
railed against abolitionism like mad-men,were condemn- 
ing the slave aristocracy every day they lived. There 
is a divine law by which the work of freemen shall 
root out the work of slaves ; and no law enacted by the 
will of JSTorthern doughfaces could repeal this statute 
-of nature. These i^orthern friends of the aristocracy 



ITS CAUSE AND PROaRESS. 119 

supposed themselves to be helping their ambitious al- 
lies by their political support. But the slaveholders 
knew how fallacious was this aid. They saw that the 
North was gaining a huge superiority to the South ; 
that the people were slowly consolidating ; that when 
the free-labor interest did finally concentrate, it 
would carry every IsTorthern interest with it, and, 
when the pinch came, no l^orthern party or statesman 
could or would help them do their will. They carefully 
sifted all tfters of aid from such quarters, and having 
used every ISTorthern interest and institution and party 
till it was squeezed dry of all its black blood, they turn- 
ed their backs haughtily on the free sections of the 
Union, plundered friend and foe alike, and flew into 
civil war, out of spite and rage at the census of 1860 ; 
in other words, declared war against the providence of 
God as mariifested in the progress of Emancipation and 
free-labor. They fought well ; at first, perhaps, better 
than the JSTorth, but General Lee couldn't flank the in- 
dustrial decrees of the Almighty, nor could Stuart 'cut 
the communications' between free labor and imperial 
power. 

But was this great material gain of the people ac- 
companied by a corresponding spiritual advancement ? 
Was man to become the chief object of reverence in this 
wonderfully expanding industrial empire ? If not, all 
this progress was deceptive, and nobody could predict 
how soon free labor superiority would be turned to the 



120 EMANCIPATIOir : 

advantage of that aristocrac}" which had perverted so- 
many things in the republic. 

It can not be denied that the Free States made 
wonderful strides during these torty years, in mental 
cultivation and power. The free industry of the Xorth 
was an education to the people, and nowhere has so 
much popular intelligence been carried into the busi- 
ness of life as there. This period also witnessed the 
organization of the free school everywhere outside of 
'New England, its home ; and the South, where educa- 
tion was not wanted only for the aristocracy: the daily 
press, the public lecture, the creation of an American 
literature, all ISTorthern ; the growth of all institutions 
of learning and means of intellectual and artistic cul- 
tivation unparalleled in any other age or land. No 
well-informed person can deny the astonishing progress 
in furnishing the means of religious instruction, the 
multiplication of churches, great ecclesiastical organi- 
zations, and philanthropic leagues. ^Notwithstanding 
the apparent absorption of the North in its material 
prosperity, no people ever was so bus}^ in furnishing 
itself with the means of spiritual improvement ; and 
though a population of several millions of ignorant and 
superstitious foreigners was thrown in upon it during 
these eventful years, it came out at the end the most 
intelligent people, the best provided with the apparatus 
of religion, that was ever known. 

But one element was yet wanting to assure the 
right usage of all this wealth of material, intellectual, 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 121 

ecclesiastical power. This was what the slaveholdino- 
aristocracy saw at once to be the fatal omen for their 
cause, and nicknamed ' Abolitionism.' Abolitionism^ as 
recognized by the Slave Power, ivas nothing more nor less 
than the religious reverence for mayi and his naturcd rights. 
This moral respect for the nature and rights of all men 
has always encountered the peculiar scorn of aristocra- 
cies, and no men have been so bitterly persecuted in 
history as those who represented the religious opposi- 
tion to despotism. The Hebrew aristocracy in old Pal- 
estine called this sentiment 'atheism ' in Jesus Christ, 
and crucified Him. The pagan aristocracy called it a 
' devilish superstition ' in the early Christians, and 
slaughtered them like cattle. The priestly and civil 
absolutism of the sixteenth century called it 'fanaticism' 
in the Dutch and German reformers, and fought it 
eighty years with fire and rack and sword. The church 
and crown nicknamed it ' Puritanism,' and persecuted 
it till it turned and cut off the head of Charles the 
First, and secured religious liberty. The slave aristo- 
cracy stigmatized it ' Abolitionism,' and let loose upon 
it every infernral agency in its power. 

One great man, yet alive, but not yet recognized 
as he will be, was the representative of this religious 
reverence for the rights of man. Lloyd Garrison was 
for twenty-five years, the best-hated man in the N"orth- 
ern States, not because he failed to see just how a 
Union of Free and Slave States could endure ; not be- 

(H) 



122 EMANCIPATION. 

cause of any visionary theory of political action or the 
structure of so jiet}'^ he cherished ; but strangely enough, 
because he stood wp for man and his divine right to free- 
dom. This was what the aristocracy hated in him, and 
this is what, with inexpressible rage, it saw gaining in 
the North. It truly said that Northern education, arts, 
literature, press, churches, benevolent organizations, 
and families, all that was best in Northern society, even 
politics, were being consolidated by this ' fanaticism,' 
' Puritanism,' ' Abolitionism' — otherwise, by reverence 
for man and. his right to freedom. 

It grew, however, almost as fast as the material 
power of the N orth — this moral conviction of the di- 
vine right of man to liberty ; grew so fast, that in 1860, 
South Carolina glanced over the November election re- 
turns, saw the name of Abraham Lincoln at the head, 
shrieked, ' The North is abolitionized ! ' and ru-hed out 
of the Union, with ten other Slave States at her heels, 
while four more were held back by the strong arm of 
the national power. The North was not yet ' abolition- 
ized,' but every volley fired at liberty by the Slave 
Power for three years, killed a lover of slavery, and 
made an Abolitionist ; as the juggler fires his pistol at 
your old black hat, and, when the smoke clears up, a 
white dove flutters in its place. 

Thus did the Free States, the people's part of the 
Union, go up steadily to overshadowing material, in- 
tellectual, moral power. But up to 1850 this mighty 



ITS CAUSE AND PKOGRESS. 123^ 

growth liad got no fit expression in State or national 
politics. All the great parties had mildly tried to re- 
monstrate with the slave aristocracy, but quickly re- 
coiled as from the mouth of a furnace. A few attempts 
had been made to organize a party for freedom,but noth- 
ing could gain foothold at Washington. A few noble 
men had lifted their voices against the rampant tyran- 
ny of the slaveholders; chief among these was John 
Quincy Adams, the John the Baptist crying in the de- 
sert of American partisan politics the coming of the 
kingdom of Heaven ! But when the people had come 
up to a consciousness of their consolidated power, and 
the reverence for human right, was changing and pola- 
rizing every Northern institution — in the fierce strug- 
gle that ushered in and succeeded the admission of 
California, between 1848 and 1856 — this Northern su- 
periority culminated m a great political movement a- 
gainst slavery. This movement assumed a double form — 
positive^ in the assertion that the Slave Power should be ar- 
rested; negative^ in the assertion that the people shoidd have 
their own way with it. The Republican party said : The 
slave aristocracy shall go no farther. The 'Popular Sove- 
reignty' party, or Douglas Democracy, said : The peo. 
pie shall do what they choose about this matter. Now the 
people were already the superior power in the republic, 
and were rapidly growing to hate the Slave Power ; so 
the slaveholders saw that the Northern Democracy , 
with their cry oi popular sovereignty^ might in time be 
just as dangerous to them as their more open enemies. 



124 emancipation: 

They repudiated both forms of Northern politics, and 
tied the executive, under James Buchanan, and the 
Supreme Court, under Judge Taney, to their dogma : 
The right of the aristocracy is supreme. Slavery, not lib- 
erty, is the law of the republic. 

The great leaders of these Northern parties were 
Stephen A. Douglas and William H. Seward. Mr. Dou- 
glas was the best practical politician, popluar debater, 
and magnetizer of the masses, the North has yet pro- 
duced. He was the representative of the blind power of 
the North, and stood up all his life, in his better hours, 
for the right of the people to make the republic what 
they would. But the representative statesman of the 
era was the Secretary of State. The whole eareer of Mr. 
Seward is so interwoven with the history of the politi- 
cal consolidation of the people against the Slave Power, 
that the two must be studied together to be understood. 
Nowhere so clearly and eloquent as in the pages of this 
great philosophical statesman can be read the rapid 
growth of that political movement that in twelve years 
captured every Free State, placed a President in the 
chair, and then, with a splendid generosity, invited 
the whole loyal people to unite in a party of the Union, 
knowing that henceforth the Union meant the people and 
liberty against the aristocracy and slavery. And only in 
the light of this view can the course of this man and 
his great seeming opponent, but real associate, btj fitly 
"displayed. Douglas had taught the people of the North 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 125 

that there will should be the law of the republic. Seward 
had told them that will should be in accordance with the 
'•higher law' of Justice and freedom. Like men fighting 
in the dark, they supposed themselves each other's ene- 
mies, while they were only commanders of the front 
and rear of the army of the people. Both appeared on 
the national arena in the struggle of 1850, and soon 
strode to the first place. The Slave Power repudiated 
Seward and his ' higher law ' of Justice and liberty at 
once. They tolerated Douglas and his 'popular sover- 
eignty ' ten years longer, when they found it even a 
more dangerous heresj^; and threw him over-board. 

In the election of 1860 there were but two parties 
— the two wings of the people's army, under the pa- 
triots Lincoln and Douglas ; the two wings of the slave 
host , under the traitors Breckinridge and Bell. Of 
course the people triumphed. Had Douglas been elect- 
ed instead of Lincoln, the Slave Power would not have 
stayed in the Union one hour longer. It ivas not Lin- 
coln., but the political supremacy of the people, they resisted. 
The Free States had at last consolidated, never to re- 
cede, and that was enough. Henceforth no party could 
live in the ISTorth that espoused the cause of the aristo- 
cracy. Whoever was Governor or President, Demo- 
crat, Republican, Union, what not, the people's party 
was henceforth supreme, and the aristocracy, with all 
its works of darkness, was second best. 

The political victory of 1860 was virtually com- 



126 emancipation: 

plete. For the first time in eighty years the people con- 
centrated against the Slave Power. The executive was 
gained, placing the army, navy, appointments, and pa- 
tronage in the hands of the President, the people's rep- 
resentative by birth and choice. The North had a ma- 
jority of eight in the Senate and sixty-five in tne House 
of Representative, insuring the control of the foreign 
policy and the financial affairs of the republic : while 
the Supreme Court, the last bulwark of despotism, could 
be reconstructed in the interest of the Constitution. 
It is true the people did not appreciate the magnitude 
of the victory, or realize what it implied. They would 
probably have made no special use of it at once, and 
the aristocracy- might have outwitted them again, as 
they had for three quarters of a century past. But the 
slaveholder knew that now was just the time to strike. 
If they waited till the people understood themselves 
better, and learned how to administer the Government 
for liberty, it would be too late. Thej still had pos- 
session of the executive, with all the departments, the 
Supreme Courts, army, navy, for four months. This 
was improved in inflicting as much damage on the 
Government as possible, and organizing a confederacy 
of revolted States. The people did not believe they 
would fight, and ofiiered them various compromises, 
everything exce-pt the thing they desired — unlimited power 
to control the republic. The aristocracy knew that no 
compromises would do them good which proposed any- 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 127 

tiling less tbaii a reconstruction of the Union which 
would insure their perpetual supremacy. They even 
doubted if this could be effectually accomplished in a 
peaceful way. The people must first be subdued by 
arms, their Union destroyed, and brought to the verge 
of anarchy by this mighty power, backed by the whole 
despotism of Europe ; then might they 'be compelled 
to accept such terms as it choose to dictate. It waited 
no longer than was necessary to complete its pre para- 
rations, and opoied its guns in Charleston harbor. 
When the smoke of that cannonade drifted away, the 
people beheld with consternation the Slave Powers ar- 
rayed in arms, from Baltimore and 8t. Louis to New 
Orleans and the Rio Grande, advancing to seize their 
capital and overthrow the republic. 

Having conquered the aristocracy by its industry, 
education, religion,and politics — driven it from every 
position on the great field ol American society in an 
era of peace — the people slowly awoke to the convic- 
tion that they must now conquer it on the field of 
arms. They were slow to come to that conviction. 
Their ablest leaders were not war-statesmen, and did 
not comprehend at once the full meaning of the war. 
They called it a ' conspiracy,' a ' rebellion,' an ' insurrec- 
tion' a 'summer madness/anything but what it was — the 
American slave aristocracy in arms to subdue the ijeople of 
the United States^ loitli every other aristocracy on earth 
wishing it success. But the people did not refuse the 



128 emancipation: 

challenge, lu April, 18dl, they rushed to the capital, 
saved their Government from immediate capture or 
dispersion, and then began to prepare, after their way, 
for — they hardlj- knew what — to suppress a riot or 
wage a civil war. 

In every such conflict as this the aristocracy has a 
great advantage, especially if it can choose its own time 
to begin the war. Kever was an oligarchy more favor- 
ed in its preparations than ours. Since 1820 it had con- 
templated and prepared for this very hour. It had al- 
most unlimited control over fifteen States of the TTnion. 
Society was constructed in all these States on a milita- 
ry basis, the laboring class being held in place by the 
power of the sword. An aristocracy is always preced- 
ed by military ambition ; for all subordinate orders of 
its people have acquired the habit of respect for rank 
and implicit obedience to superiors, so essential to suc- 
cess in war. "When the war broke out, the Slave Pow- 
er was ready. Its arms and ammunition and forts were 
stolen ; its military organizations had been perfected in 
secret societies ; its generals were selected — its president 
perhaps the best general of all ; its military surveys 
were made, every Southern State mapped, and every 
strategical point marked ; its subordinate officers, in 
which the real efficiency of an army consists, had been 
educated in military schools kept by such teachers as 
Hill and Stonewall Jackson. It had a full crop of cot- 
ten as a basis for finance. Its government was practi- 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 129 

cally such a despotism as does not exist in the world. 
At the sound of the first gun in Charleston, the aristo- 
cracy sprang to arms ; in a fortnight every strategical 
point in fifteen States was practically in its possession, 
and Washington tottering to its fall. 

The people, as the people always are, were unpre- 
pared for war. Their entire energies had been concen- 
trated for forty years in organizing the gigantic victo- 
ry of peace which they had just achieved. When they 
woke up to the idea that there was yet another battle 
to be fought before the aristocracy would subside, they 
began to learn the art of war. And never did the people 
begin a great war so unprepared. The people of Europe 
have always had military traditions and cultivation to 
fall back upon in their civil wars. The North had no 
military traditions later than the Revolution, for no 
war since that day had really called forth their hearty 
efibrts. Three generations of peace had destroyed even 
respect for war as an employment fit for civilized men. 
There were not ten thousand trained soldiers in all the 
nineteen States in April, 1861. There were not good 
arms to furnish fifty thousand troops in the possession 
of the National or loyal State Governments. Most of 
the ablest military men of the North had left the army, 
and were enoaged in peaceful occupations. Halleck 
was in the law ; McClellan, Burnside, Banks, on the 
railroad ; Mitchel and Sigel teaching school boys ; Hook- 
er, Kearny, McCall, Dix, retired gentlemen ; Fremont 
digging gold: Rosecrans manufacturing oil, and Grant 



130 EMANCIPATION: 

in a tanyard ; i.ncl so on to the end of the chapter ; 
while Scott, the patriot hero, who was but once defeat- 
ed in fifty years' service, was passing over into the help- 
lessness of old age, Of course such a people did not re- 
alize the value of military education, and fell into the 
natural delusion that a multitude of men carrying guns 
and wearing blue coats was an army ; and any ' smart 
man ' could make a colonel in three months. There w^as 
not even a corporal in the Cabinet, and Mr. Lincoln's 
military exploits were confined to one campaign, in 
the war of 1812, and one challenge to fight a duel. 
There were not ten Northern men in Congress who 
could take a company into action. In short, the jSTorth 
had the art of war to learn ; even did not know it was 
necessary to learn to fight as to do anything else; espe- 
cially to tight against an aristocracy that had been 
studying war for forty years. 

For more than three years the people of the Unit- 
ed States waged this gigantic war thus precipitated up- 
on them by their aristocracy to arrest the irresistible 
growth of modern society in the republic. Every year 
was a period of great success, though the peaceful popu- 
lation, unacquainted with war, and often ignorant of 
the vast issues of the confiict, often inclined to despon- 
dency. Of course the aristocracy fought best, at first, 
as every aristocracy in the world has done. With half 
the nunjber of disciplined troops, better commanded 
and manoeuvred than the Union forces, and the great 
advantage of interior lines, supported by railroad com- 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 131 

munication and possessing in Vii'ginia,perhaps,the most 
defensible region in the Union, they held the Army of 
the Potomac at hay for two years; thrice overrun Mary- 
land and the Pennsylvania border, and held their forti- 
fied capital, Richmond ; while ever}- step of national 
victorious progress in the Southwest was bitterly con- 
tested. Yet this war of martial forces was strangely 
like the long, varied war of material, moral, and politi- 
cal forces of which it was the logical sequel. 

The Union navy won the earliest la.urels in the war. 
The navy has Ijeen the right arm of the people in all 
ages. The Athenian navy repelled the invasion of 
Greece by the Persian empire. Antony, Pompey, Csesar, 
the people's leaders in Pome, built up their youthful 
power upon the sea. The Dutch and English navies 
saved religious and civil liberty in the sixteenth century; 
and all the constitutional Governments that now exist 
in Europe came out of the hold of a British man-of-war. 
The United States, in 1812, extemporized a navy that 
gained the nation the freedom of the seas. And the 
navy led the way in the late war for the freedom of 
the continent. The aristocracy felt, intuitively, the 
danger of this arm of defence, and discouraged, scatter- 
ed, and almost annihilated the naval power before they 
entered upon the w^ar. The active navy, in April, 1861, 
consisted of one frigate, too large to sail over the bar 
of Charleston harbor, and one two-gun supply ship ; 
and that in the three successive years it shot up into a 



132 emancipation: 

force of five hundred vessels ; that America's new iron- 
clads and guns revolutionized the art of naval warfare ; 
and established the most eiiective blockade ever known 
along two thousand miles of dangerous coast; captured 
Port Royal and New Orleans, aided in the opening of 
the Mississippi and all its dependencies, penetrated to 
the cotton fields of Alabama, occupied the inland waters 
of North Carolina and Virginia, seized every important 
rebel port and navy yard save four, and destroj^ed every 
war ship of the enemy that ventured in range of its 
cannon. 

But the army of the Union was not content to re- 
main permanently behind the navy It moved slow be- 
cause it was the people's pioneer to level the mountains 
and fill up the valleys — to construct the highway for 
Emancipation from the P'^tomac to the Rio Grrande — 
the war was entered into by the people and the nation — 
however slow the Chief Executive was to recognize it — 
for the dissolution of slave Society— ^on the other hand 
it was entered into with the distinct understanding 
that it was the last expedient to save the Negro slave 
oligarchy of the United States. From the moment 
Southern members of Congress began leaving their seats, 
the consolidated force of the free North began 
and grew agressive, asserting man's right to liberty, 
and the duty of the nation to be the emancipation of 
the slave — when later in the struo-o-le Cono-ress and 
the Executive difliered as to the demands of the people 
and the emergency — when the capitalists of the North 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 133 

demanded the emancipation of the slaves — Congress- 
men fresh from the people talked of witholdiug sup- 
plies from the government. While the free laborers 
of the North then fighting in the swamps at the South 
demanded that the Negro should be free and fight for 
freedom, and when every pulpit at the North lent its 
aid to the people for emancipation ; then Mr. Lincoln 
as Chief Commander of the Army and Navy issued his 
proclamation of emancipation. The London Inquirer 
( England ) thus reviews the progress of Emancipation 
in its struggle with the Slave power, 1864, one year 
after the proclamation was issued ; " There are three 
parties to the American war. There are the slave, the 
bondsmen of the South, whose flight was restrained by 
the Fugitive Bill, and whose wrongs have brought a- 
bout the disruption ; there are the Confederates, who, 
when Southern supremacy in the republic was menaced 
by the election of Abraham Lincoln, threw off their al- 
legiance ; and there are the Government and its support- 
ers, who are striving to restore the integrity of the 
Union. These are the three parties ; and as the war has 
gone on from year to year, the cause of the negro has 
brightened, and hundreds of thousands of the African 
race have passed out of slavery into freedom. They flock 
in multitudes within the Federal lines, and take their 
stand under the Constitution as free men. Abandoned by 
their former masters, or flying from their fetters, the 
• chattels become citizens, and rejoice. No matter what 



134 EMANCIPATION : 

their miserj, they keep their faces to the North, and 
bear up under their privations. Every advance of the 
national army liberates new throngs, and they rush ea- 
gerly to the camps where their brethren are cared for. 
The exodus, continually going on, increases in volume. 
" Such are the colored freedmen, the innocent vic- 
tims of the war, the slaves whom it has marvellously 
enfranchised ; such are the dusky clouds that flit o'er the 
continent of America and settle down on strange lands 
— the harbingers of a social revolution in the great re- 
public of the West. More than fifty thousand are 
formed into camps in the Mississsppi Yalley, and not 
fewer in Middle and East Tennessee and I^orth Alaba- 
ma, It is a vast responsibility which is cast upon the 
Government and the people of the North, a sore and 
mighty burden ; and proportionate are the eiForts which 
have been made to meet the trying emergency. The 
Government finds rations for the negro camps, provides 
free carriage for the contributions of the humane, ap- 
points surgeons and superintendents, enlists in the army 
the men who are suitable, and as far as possible, gives 
employment to all. Clothing and other necessaries are 
forwarded to the camps by the ton by benevolent hands, 
and books for the schools by tens of thousands. All 
along the banks of the Mississippi, from Cairo to New 
Orleans, and in Arkansas and Tennessee, the aged and 
infirm fugitives, the women and children, are collected 
into colored colonies, and tended and taught with a 
care that is worthy of a great and Christian people. 



ITS CAUSE AND PROGRESS. 135 

All that can work are more thau willing to do so ; they 
labor gladly ; and among old and young there is an ea- 
ger desire for education. Books are coveted as badges 
of freedom ; and the negro soldier carries them with 
him wherever he goes, and studies them wherever he 
can. It is a great work which is in progress across the 
Atlantic. Providence, in a manner which man fore- 
saw not, is solving a dark problem of the past, and we 
may well look on witii awe and wonder. There were 
thousands of minds which apprehended the downfall of 
the ' peculiar institution.' There were a prophetic few , 
who clearly perceived that it would be purged away by 
no milder scourge than that of war. But there were 
none who dreamed that the slaveholder would be the 
Samson to bring down tlie atrocious system of human 
slavery by madly taking arms in its defence ! Yet so 
it was ; and the Divine penaltj^ is before us. The 
wrath of man has worked out the retributive justice of 
God. The crime which a country would not put away 
from it has ended in war, and slavery is a ruin.' 

Thus will the Historian mark the progress of 
Emancipation through the red seething Hames of civil 
war, to itsconsumation. Following the higher laws of 
progress, which are immutable, the IsTationhas arisen to 
the height of freedom — "Whether that height has been 
reached through the aid of G-eneral Butler's Contra- 
band or President Lincoln's Proclamation — or both — we 
must judge from the tacts as they present themselves 
in the face of that Providence which rules over the af- 
fairs of Nations. 



Since Emancipation. 



SINCE EMAI^CIPATION. 



Undoubtedly, January 1st, 1863, will be celebra- 
ted for all time, by Freed men and their descendants 
in the United States, as their natal day of freedom. 
It is true that the Lincoln proclamation of that date 
was a mere paper manifesto, impotent in power, and 
requiring the future success of the CJnion arms to make 
it effective; and although the work of emancipation 
was not completed until December 18th, 1865, yet there 
was a moral effect produced by the proclamation that 
struck a deadly blow at the one vulnerable point of 
the slave Achilles. From that blow the fortunes of 
the Confederacy never rallied; it was " the beginning 
of the end, " for before the moral force of the Emanci- 
pation Proclamation, the waves of disunion receded, 
bearing- with them the wreck of a Confederacy whose 
corner-stone was slavery, and leaving stranded upon 
the shore, nearly four millions of homeless, helpless, ig- 
norant and degraded human beings. 

The atter-disposal of this wreckage from the storm 
of civil war, was a question of serious moment. Could 
it be utilized? Did it contain any elements of materi- 
al value to the Nation, or would it remain forever 
stranded where the waves of the Rebellion had cast it? 
Many who admitted the justice and expediency of e- 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 139 

mancipation had their misgivings and doubts as to its 
results upon the emancipated race. Hence the question 
arose in many minds, " After Emancipation; what ? " 

The spectacle is without a parallel in the history 
of nations. By the mere scratch of the presidential 
pen, a helpless dependent people were in a day thrown 
upon their own resources, a nation of homeless paupers, 
without even the scanty interest felt by their former 
masters in their welfare, transformed into virulent ha- 
tred by the sudden change in their relative positions. 
It is not strange that many should regard emancipa- 
tion as a cruel kindness to the ISTeo-ro; that doubt 
should be expressed whether in the event of the with- 
drawal of a master's protection, the dependent habits 
taught the race by two centuries and a half of slavery 
might not prove too strong to prevent the freedmen 
from becoming the lazzaroni of America; crowding the 
highways and hedges, miserable supplicants upon the 
public charity, until from sheer inability to provide for 
their own wants, they would be swept into extinction 
by disease and famine. Some, with more vivid imag- 
inations, remembering Santo Domingo, colored the 
gloomy tints of this sombre picture with the crimson 
flame of carnage and crime. 

Happily for the nation as well as for the iSTegro, 
these pessimists who saw nothing but woe in the future 
of the freed people after their emancipation, are com- 
pelled to admit, now after the lapse of nineteen years, 
their mistake. Indeed no stronger testimony to the 



140 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

record made by the freedmen can be given, than that 
which is extorted by less than a score ot years trial, 
from the lips of a grandson of that apostle ot slavery 
and secession, John C. Calhoun: "If my grandfather 
and his associates had known as much about the ]S"e- 
gro as I know, and could have had the same faith in his 
capacity for progress, which I have attained from my 
own experience, there would have been neither slavery 
nor war. " 

Nineteen years is too short a time to sura up the 
results of emancipation in a complete form, but al- 
though the race is yet in the transition period, there 
are not wanting evidences of the continued progress 
and growth of the ex-slaves of the Union. When the 
odds against them are considered — their poverty, and 
helplessness, and the bitter prejudice that barred them 
out from the career possible to others of a different 
complexion, the progress made seems miraculous. But 
on the other hand, it must be remembered, that eman- 
cipation when it finally came, found the Negro better 
prepared for it than his friends or enemies imagined. 
For years freedom had been his inspiration kindled a 
tiny spark within his soul by secret religious teaching, 
the liame fed by his hopes and prayers, it had grown to 
be a settled belief in the Negro mind that the freedom of 
the race would come in the Lord's appointed time. 
This belief, deep hidden beneath the impenetrable mask 
of dusky countenance, and an outward appearance of 
contentment with theirlot, explains in part the mighty 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 141 

patience of the race. They were waiting. With the echo 
of the shot fired at Sumter, the Il^egro heard another 
voice that told him the end was near, and the hour so 
long looked for was at hand. But the mask was not 
dropped, nor the secret hope proclaimed to the world, 
for with the fatalistic creed of the race, the Negro would 
wait for freedom to come to him ; he would not seek it. 
So with his master at the front, he toiled patiently on 
the old plantation, true to his trust, until there came to 
his ear, the steady tramp of the steel-crowued,blue-clad 
legions, and before his eyes waved the starry glory of 
the Old Flag, and he knew that he was free. 

Surely they were not stupid, unreasoning brutes 
who came from the slave quarter to the Union forces, 
the mask dropped at last, and the eyes gleaming with 
a new light, poor but grateful, — ignorant but resolute, 
saying "Feed our helpless little ones, while we aid you 
in the struggle." Soon, stout, brawny arms wielded 
the spade in the entrenchments, faithful dusky guides 
marched in the van of the Union army, and later still, 
wearing the loyal blue, the black soldiers storm the 
heights of Port Hudson and Milliken's Bend, crimson- 
ing the sands of "Wagner, and the swampy forests of 
Olustee with their blood, and dying with Spartan 
courage in that modern Thermopylae "the Crater at 
Petersburg. 

With the end of the war, the debt of gratitude 
paid, there is heard one universal appeal from the freed- 
men : " Give us the spelling book ! " To this longing 



142 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

of theirs for freedom of the mind as well as the body, — 
this desire to possess that " opeu sesame " to wealth and 
power, which had been held like the rich fruits of Tan- 
talus, just beyond their reach in the days of slavery, 
may be attributed much of the marvellous growth of 
the Ne^ro. With the aid of the spelling book and 
Bible he has attained a far higher position than he ever 
could have done with the " forty acres and a mule " 
that Wendell Phillips demanded as a freedom gift for 
him. 

^_,„<^ 8oon, all over the South was seen the strange 
spectacle of a race at tchool ; eagerly drinking deep 
draughts from the once-forbidden well of knowledge. 
Living in humble cabins, toiling from sunrise to sun- 
set, there was one great object that absorbed the ener- 
gies of the race. It seems strange that prejudice look- 
ing for a type of this people should never look farther 
than the prison cells, almshouses, or streets and gutters 
where the refuse of the race may congregate, and refuse 
to accept as typical of the race the great majority, who, 
when the shackles of slavery fell from their limbs, 
grasped the handles of the plow, and marked a record 
of their industry upon the battle-scarred fields of the 
South ; who contentedly wore their rags and patches 
that their little ones might receive the scanty educa- 
tional facilities afforded them ; sparing enough from 
their slender wages to pay the salaries of their minis- 
ters and teachers, and whose hard-earned mites are yet 
flowing in a continuous stream toward the building of 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 143 

their churches and schoolhouses— those monuments 
that sprung up like magic among these people, telling 
to the world of the heroic self-denial of an impoverish- 
ed and suffering race.* 

Along with the desire for an education came the 
wish for a home, and the same ambition that nerved 
them in the quest for education transferred slowly but 
surely the once homeless serfs from the plantations of 
their former masters to the kindly shelter of their own 
roof-trees, and to the prouder position of owners as 
well as tillers of the soil.:]: 

In treating of the condition of the freed people 
since emancipation, I shall refer but slightly to the 
successes and failures of their political career, as to al- 
lude to that even in a general way, would require much 
more space than I have assigned to this article. With 
the political problem of the South yet unsolved, there 
is a partial bias given to the subject of reconstruction 
by contemporaneous historians, and it will be a task 
only possible for a future chronicler of events to do jus- 
tice to the political position occupied by the colored 
voters of the South during the first decade after eman- 



*The 62d Regiment U. S. C. I. in 1866, began the establishing of a school in the 
State of Missouri, the Regiment contributed $5,00° (five thousand) dollars for that 
purpose. The 65th Regiment U. S. C. I. gave $i,379-5o for the same school; by 
other contributions $10,000 was added to this sum and the Lincoln Institute was 
built at Jefferson City, Mo., for the education and training of Colored Teachers. 
The State donates to this Institute $5,000. per annum. 

X It is estimated that the Negroes in Georgia have accumulated since emanci- 
pation. $5,000,000, in reai:estate ; Virginia '$2,000,000 ; North Carolina and South 
Carolina, $3,000,000. 



144 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

cipation. Enough is known to prove their honesty of 
intention, their fidelity to the National Government, 
and their blind devotion to, and consequent sufferings 
for, men who used them as a stepping stone for their 
own ambitious purposes, and then deserted them in 
their hour of need. The crimes charged upon the Negro 
governments of the late rebel states, should be placed 
where they rightfully belong ; upon the shoulders of 
the men who used them as tools and dupes. And more 
than all, in the history of the future, their mistakes 
and ignorance will not appear quite so conspcuious, 
when the legislation of the reconstruction period is 
compared with the legislation of their former masters. 
The evident justice and humanitj^ of the one will ap- 
pear in startling contrast by the side of the insane ma- 
lignity and devilish cruelty of the Black code. Nor is 
there any indication of the elimination of the Negro 
element from the future political questions. If the race 
can stand the bull-dezing, ku-kluxing, the exodus and 
all the other untoward events of their early political 
career, without extinction, there is good ground for the 
belief that in the future they will possess their own. 

Socially. Since emancipation the race has suffered 
all the evils of a people with an unformed social stand- 
ing, but year by year there is a gradual improvement, 
and an advance toward better things in this particular. 
The virus implanted by slavery with its shameless li- 
centiousness and lowering of the human to the brute 
level, yet lingers in the veins of the race, and it is too 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 145 

much to expect of any people that the flood-tide of im- 
morality that has swept over the race for nearly 250 
years could at once be reversed, and a newer order of 
things be immediately instituted. 

Slavery oiFered a permium for licentiousness, but 
had no punishment for immorality. Those who should 
have set them a better example, exerted every force of 
power and law to debauch them and sink them lower 
in a sea of shame. The glory of wifehood and motherhood 
was not theirs. No sacred tie ordained of God between 
man and woman, but what was with ruthless hand 
torn asunder and trampled under foot, and the deeper 
the shame, the more was it commended for its profit to 
the master. The only check to the wholesale degrada- 
tion of the race came in those days from the few feeble, 
flickering gleams of gospel truth, that reached them 
from the lips of the preachers of their race. Yet this 
barrier, feeble as it was, served to keep the waves of sin 
and shame from overflowing many a soul and made a 
foundation on which to build a purer social fabric when 
emancipation prepared the way. 

The condition of the homes and churches of the 
race bear testimony to the social progress made ; but 
very few of the whites realize this social improvement, 
because they lack the moral courage to cross the social 
gulf, and learn the truth for themselves. They may be 
acquainted with the colored servants in their kitchens, 
the colored laborers in their fields or stores, but of the 
other class who have lifted themselves by education 



146 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

aud wealth above the sphere of dependence upon them, 
they know ahuost nothing. 

Yet there is a class, and one that widens year by 
year, as education and industry lifts them up, who can 
combine intelligence, refinement, wealth and even lux- 
ury in their home circles, and herein lies a great hope 
for the race. With a well-defined social circle and its 
corresponding power and influence, there will always 
be an incentive to the young to elevate themselves to 
that stand-point, from which position alone can they 
lend a helping hand to the fortunes of their race.* 

Financially. Against the oft repeated allegations 
as to the Negro's lack of energy, indolence, and general 
incapacity to provide for the wants of himself aud fam- 
ily, may be set the fact that the emancipated race from 
the start convinced the friends and enemies of their in- 
tention and ability to take care of themselves. The 
newer South must own her obligation for the advanc- 
ed position occupied to-day, not only to the influx of 

* The social progress of the Negro is marked by his advance and conception of 
moral responsibility and duties. No church will tolerate him with two or more 
wives, nor permit him, as a member, to live clandestinely with a woman as before 
Emancipation. The mother of an illegitimate child is now the outcast of elite 
society, and not the belle as in slavery times . 

In compliance with the spirit of the Negro population of Virginia, Hon. Little- 
ton Owens, member of the General Assembly of Virginia, from Princess Anne 
County, introduced the following in t^e Virginia As.sembly : 

" A Bill to suppress Miscegenation in the state of Virginia, 

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That any white person 
who shall commit adultery or fornication with a negro, or any negro who shall 
commit adultery or fornication with a white person, shall be fined not less than one 
hundred dollars, and confined in the county or corporation jail not less than six 
months. 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 147 

Northern capital, but to the brawny arms from which 
the shackles of slavery so recently dropped. Counting 
all the aid received from public and private charities, 
it will be lost from sight in comparison with the great 
needs of nearly four millions of destitute, homeless fel- 
low-creatures. Yet they were fed, clothed, housed, edu- 
cated in part, maintained in great part their own min- 
isters and teachers, builded churches and school hous- 
es, and year by year added to the taxable basis of prop- 
erty in the South ; and this happy result is due to the 
industry and economy of the race.:]: 

As the Negro must for certain reasons have a 
monopoly of the labor of the South, there is but one 
thing that will prevent him in the future from using 
the potent power of wealth as a factor in his elevation. 
One of the accursed legacies of slavery was the mutual 
distrust of each other that yet exists. Working hard 

2. Any person who shall lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit, or be 
gxiilty of open and gross lewdness and lasciviousness, with a white person, or any 
white person who shall lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit, or be guilty 
of open and gross lewdness and lasciviousness, with a negro, shall be confined in 
the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five years, or, at the discretion of 
the jury, be fined not less than two hundred dollars, and confined in the county or 
corporation jail not less than twelve months. 

3. This act shall be in force from its passage." 

Though this act failed to pass, it gave a coloring to the legislation of the assem- 
bl}-, and evoked universal criticism from the Press of the state in its favor. 

Prejudice is fast disappearing ; marriages between whites and blacks are toler- 
ated in nearly all the Middle, Eastern and Western States, the word white having 
been stricken from their constitutions. In all, e.xcept perhaps one or two of the 
Southern States, rail-road, steamboat and hotel accommodations are open alike to all, 

JThe principal products of Negro labor for 1879, were : cotton, 2,363,540,900 lbs. 
tobacco, 391,278,350 lbs., sugar, 10,386,880,000 lbs, Bales of cotton, iS3o, 5,767,357. 



148 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

enough as individuals, they have jet to learn the neces- 
sity of cooperation ; for it is only by combining their 
mutual resources, and working for the elevation of the 
many rather than the few, that they can render their 
success in life certain, and their oppression impossible.* 
Intellectually, the advance made is perhaps more 
marked than any other. It was noticed from the first, 
and the aptness shown by the freed people for intellectu- 
al acquirements was contemptuously ascribed by their 
enemies to a monkey-like power of imitation, but as 
year after year shows a constant advance, despite the 
curse of poverty and prejudice, it is not saying too much 
to attribute it to the intuitive quickness of intellect. 
Greater incentives are held out also to the students of 
this race than any other. The embryo colored lawyer, 
doctor, minister or teacher on graduating from college 
does not, like the white graduate, find himself in a 
profession already overcrowded, and realize that his 
future success in life depends upon that unwritten but 
forcible law " the survival of the fittest." On the con- 
trary, the supply will not, for years to come, equal the 
demand for colored men in the arts, sciences an . pro- 
fessions, and herein lies a great hope for the race in the 
future.:^: 



* $i7,oeo was paid by the Freedmen for the Emancipation Slonument. 

From 1865 to 1874 the Freedmen deposited in the Freedmen's Savings and 
Trust Company Banks, several millions of dollars,and this the first ten years after 
Emancipation. This Institution collapsed in i874,with Hon.Fred Douglas as its Prest. 

+The educational advancement of this people is so prodigious and wide-spread 
that no single fact will serve to illustrate it ; from the highest institutions of learn- 
ing in the land, young men and women are graduating continually, with high hon- 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 149 

The RELIGIOUS improvement of the colored people 
has made itself more apparent in church enterprizes, 
than in worship or belief. As a people, they have deep 
religious instincts, and strong attachment to evangeli- 
cal truth. Scepticism is almost unknown among a peo- 

ors. In nearly all the Northern States, including New York, prejudice has so 
subsided, that all distinction in schools on account of color is done away with, all 
classes, nationality and color attend the same schools. 

At the South, the Negro has just begun to demand mixed schools ; the question 
is destined to occupy no unimportant place in the politics of this section in the near 
future. 

At the Press Convention held at Washington. D. C, June, 1882, at which, 
representatives from twenty-five Newspapers published by Negroes, were present, 
the question of mixed schools, "shall we advocate them?" was discussed. Mr. 
George S. Richardson read a paper demanding they should, and said : 

" The first question which suggests itself is, have we the right to claim the 
benefits of mixed schools ? I have no hesitancy in saying that the-parent has the 
right to send his child to any school in the district in which he x^%\i^^^, provided the 
qualifications of the child is sufficient to guarantee such claims. Such right, I con- 
tend, accrues to him on the basis of that relation he bears to the community .it 
large, as an equal factor in the body politic, amenable to its laws and entitled to a 
share in its benefits. And it is fair to state that all forms of proscription exercu-.ed 
by one portion of a community against another are repugnant to the true ends of 
organization and consequently dangerous-dangerous not because they merely 
stamp the /^•cMVKi' generation, still groaning under the weight of social and civil 
ostracism— the outgrowth of a condition of slavery— but because they have a \.&^- 
dency to /<•?/<■/««/£■ the foolish distinctions which wiU fall like a blight on our 
children and on our children's children. On the question of the rights of the color- 
ed man, the Constitution of the United States is perfectly clear. A portion of the 
i.<th Amendment reads : " No State shall make or enforce any laws which shall 
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." Hence, it 
follows that, if a corporation or a state institutes a system which enforces unjust 
discriminations against certain classes of Americari citizens, then such system is an 
abridgement of the rights and immunities of the above class and therefore uncon- 
stitutional. Jefferson advocated the theory that the enslavement of the Negro was 
in violation of the laws of nature ; that it was ivro?igin principle morally, socially 
and politically. If this be so, then any system which perpetuates the prejudices 
which had their root in a condition of slavery, is equally wrong in principle moral- 
Iv. socially rnd politically." 



150 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

pie whose faith in God never wavered in that long night- 
trial of bondage, and as in slavery their religious belief 
was the one thing to which their strong emotional na- 
tures could cling, so in the life of the free man of to-day, 
religion finds a prominent place. 

The religious growth would seem marvellous to 
one unacquainted with the fact that the foundation for 
it was laid amid the trials of slavery, and this is a har- 
vest from seed sown with tears, in days gone by. 

Gradually, ignorance is being supplanted by intel- 
ligence in the pulpit, and as a result of more enlighten- 
ed teachings, the absurd extravagancies which charac- 
terize 80 much of the so called worship among the col- 
ored people, will be replaced by a more rational form of 
devotion. Greater results will be realized also, when 
religion among them takes a more practical form, and 
bears more substai.tial fruit than mere emotional 
feeling.* 

Growth in population. — Since 1860 the status of 
the Negro, respecting population in the South particu- 
larly, has been argumentatively discussed through the 

* The estimated number of church members are as follows: African M. E. 
Church, 391,044; Methodist E. Zion Church, 200,000; Colored M. E. Church, 
120,200; Methodist Episcopal Church, 310,000; Baptist Church, 517,000: Total 
1,538,244. 

The Afnc an Methodist E. Church owned in 1836 ,$43,000, in church property at 
the North. Since Emancipation and the establishing of churches at the South, its 
accumulations have been wonderful. In 1881 the total amount of property owned 
by this denomination was, according to their Budget, $3,073,254.20. 

The Baptists are the most numerous, but not having a general organization — I 
have tried, but in vain, to ascertain their worth. 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 151 

leading journals and periodicals of this and other coun- 
tries. More or less, our own people discussed the sub- 
ject from a partisan and political stand-point, and held 
that on account of the sudden change from slavery to 
freedom, causing a radical change in the mode of liv- 
ing, work and relationship to those who heretofore 
bore to him the relation of master that the Negro was 
"fast dying out." This conclusion of these writers was 
substantiated by their reasoning, not only by the re- 
ports of the local boards and sanitary committees of 
the Gulf States, but by the reports of the National 
board of health also, and it is strange but true, that a- 
mong those who argued thus, were men fully acquaint- 
ed with and learned in the laws and science of popu- 
lation. Thecensus ol 1870didnot show a natural increase 
of the Negro in these states, as a more careful and dili- 
o-ent inquiry doubtless would have shown, yet there 
was nothing disparaging in the claims though the in- 
crease of the white population was reported greater 
than that of the Negro, and affirmed the doctrine that 
though slavery degraded the Negro, liberty would de- 
stroy him. There were those who held, — yet admit- 
ting the census reports to be true, attributing the lack 
of a plenary increase to the disturbed state of society 
durino' the decade from 1860 to 1870 — that the Negro 
was holding his own, and that the recoil was in keep- 
ing with the great laws of increase — preparatory — and 
that in a state of freedom, population increased more 
rapidly than in slavery, in wedlock than in Polygamy. 



152 SINCE EMANCIPATION. 

They held further, that the census of 1870 was defec- 
tive, which the returns of 1880 show conclusively. In 
1860, there were 4,441,830 Negroes in the United 
States; in 1870 the returns gave 4,880,000, an increase 
of 439,000 , but in the returns of 1880 for the ten years 
preceding, there were given 6,577,151, thus showing 
an increase of 1,697,151, and over that of 1870 of 1,- 
258, 151, by this, when compared, will show a greater 
multiplication of population in ten years than in any 
two decades previous to the war. 

The number of Negroes in each State is thus given 
by the census returns of 1880. 

Alabama, 600,103 ; Arkansas, 210,666 ; California, 
6,018 ; Colorado, 2,435 ; Connecticut, 11,547 ; Dela- 
ware, 26,442 : Florida, 126,690 ; Georgia, 725,133 ; Illi- 
nois, 46,368 ; Indiana, 39,228 ; Iowa, 9,516 ; Kansas, 
43,107 ; Kentucky, 271,451 ; Louisiana, 483,655 ; Maine 
1,451; Maryland, 210,230; Massachusetts, 18,697; 
Michigan, 15,100; Minnesota, 1,564, Mississippi, 
650,291 ; Missouri, 145,350 ; Nebraska, 2,385 ; Nevada, 
488 ; New Hampshire, 685 ; New Jersey, 38,853 ; New 
York, 65,104; North Carolina, 531,277 ; Ohio, 79,900; 
Oregon, 487 ; Pennsylvania, 85,5 d5 ; Rhode Island, 
6.488 ; South Carolina, 604,332 ; Tennessee, 403,151 ; 
Texas, 393,384 ; Vermont, 1,057; Virginia, 631,616; 
West Virginia, 25,886: Wisconsin, 2,702. Total, 
States, 6,518,372. 

Territories. — Arizona, 155 ; Dakota, 401 ; Dis- 
trict of Columbia, 59,596 ; Idaho, 53 ; Montana, 346 ; 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 



153 



Kew Mexico, 1,015 ; Utah, 232 ; Washington, 325 : 
Wyoming, 298. Total, Territories, 62,421. Total^ 
United States, 6,580,793. 

The total number of Negroes in these States and 
Territories, as reported by the census of 1870, was 4,- 
886,387; and in 1880, 6,580,793. The increase in the 
former slave-states from 1870 to 1880, is shown by 
the following census returns : — 



states. 



1870. 



1880. 



Alabama 475,510 600,141 

Arkansas 122,169 210,622 



Delaware 22,794 . 

Florida 91,689 

Georgia 545,142. 

Kentucky 222,210. 



.. 26,456 
. . . 125,262 
... 7-4-654 
... 271,462 

Louisiana 364,210 483,898 

Maryland ,.. 175,391 209,896 

Mississippi 444,201 652.221 

Missouri . ... 118,071 145,046 

North Carolina 391,650 35I016 

South Carolina 415.814 604,325 

Tennessee 322,331 402,994 

Texas 253,475 393.384 

Virginia 512,841 631,756 

West Virginia 17,980 25,729 



Net increase 
in ten years. 

142,631 

88,453 
3,662 

33'573 
179,512 

49,252 
119,688 

34.505 
ao8,o2o 

26.975 

139,666 

188,511 

80.660 

39,909 

118,915 

7.749 



The total number of ]N'egroes in these States, was 
4,495,478 in 1870, and 5,643,891 in 1880. This shows 
during these ten years the enormous increase of 
1,541,797, or nearly 83 per cent. During the preceding 
decade the colored population of this group of States 
increased only 223,614, or about b^ per cent. The to- 
tal was 4,018,389 in 1860, and 4,242,003 in 1870. 

(J) 



154 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 



Arizona 121 

Colorado 121 



The increase and decrease of the Negro population 
by States, 1880. 

Increase. 

South Carolina 10,909 

Mississippi 9.936 

Louisiana 5.735 

Georgia 3,678 

North Carolina 3.527 

Arkansas 1,863 

District of Columbia. 1,053 

Tennessee 944 

Connecticut 688 

Indiana 528 

New Mexico 409 

Illinois 380 

Pennsylvania 144 

Ohio 126 

Decrease. 

Texas 11 ,985 Delaware . 

Florida 6,993 Missouri . . 

Alabama . . 574 Montana . . 

Wyoming 559 California 

Kentucky 514 Nebraska. 

Dakota 443 Oregon . . . 

Kansas 412 Michigan. 

Washington 403 Nevada . . . 

Idaho 365 Maine .... 

Virginia 309 Maryland . 



West Virginia. . . 

Iowa 

New York 

Massachusetts . . . 
Rhode Island. . . 

New Jersey 

Vermont 

Minnesota 

Utah 

Wisconsin 

New Hampshire. 



115 
100 

92 

1^ 
62 

51 
32 

28 
6 
7 
4 



294 
197 
187 
147 
118 
100 

87 
48 



As a whole, there has been a gain of 625 on an assumed 
basis of 100,000 whites, as above. 

The Negro population of the United States at each 

decade, since 1790. 

1790 757,363 

1 800 X ,001 ,463 

1810 1,377,81.0 

1820 1,771,562 

1 830 2,328,642 



SINCE EMANCIPATION. 155 

1840 2,873,758 

1850 3,638,762 

i860 4.435.709 

1870 4,886,387 

1880 6,580,793 

In conclusion, the advocates of emancipation and 
friends of the freed people need not be discouraged be- 
cause nineteen years of trial have not entirely wiped 
away all traces of two centuries and a half of slavery's 
debasement. To expect that in this short period the 
oppressed and degraded race would be able in all things 
to measure up to the standard of the most enlightened 
people on earth, is to expect an impossibility. Yet, 
comparing them with other races, the verdict of the fu- 
ture will be that no nation ever came from so low a 
level and rose to so great a height in so short a time. 
The nineteen years' history of the ex-slaves of the Uni- 
ted States since '63, is their vindication against the 
prejudice and hatred that belied, slandered and oppress- 
ed them. 

In the search for materials to build into the citi- 
zen framework of the Republic, there is here a large 
and increasing quantity of material that needs no such 
violent change ot ideas and customs, nor purging out 
of socialistic or monarchial notions hs do the emigrauts 
sent to our shores from the Old World. JSTeither aliens 
in religion nor social customs, there is no danger to be 
feared from them to our peculiar form of government, 
but in the 6,000,000 of our colored population there is 
a Samson's strength that may be relied upon for the 
defense of, but will never be exerted in the pulling 
down of the educational and religious pillars that sup- 
port our republican form of government. 



EMJl^CIPjlTION, MO^UMEN' 



CEREMONIES 

AticndiJig the himiguration of the Frcedmeti-s Memorial Monu- 

meftt to Abraham Lincoln, at Lmcoln Park, 

Washington City, April 14th, i8j6. 



The eleventh anniversary of the death of Abraham 
Lincoln was made a most fitting occasion for the 
ceremonies attending the unveiling of the Lincoln stat- 
ue, at the National Capitol in Lincoln Park. It had 
originally been intended by the committee having the 
matter in charge to unveil the statue — which is de- 
signed to commemorate the great act of Lincoln's life, 
the liberation of the slave in the South — upon the an- 
niversary of the day upon which the memorable pro- 
clamation was issued, but as that day came on Sunday 
it was concluded to have the ceremony performed on 
the anniversary ofanother event in the history of liber- 
ty — sadder but not less memorable. The arrangements 
for the exercises were complete, and the exercises which 
had been previously arranged were carried out. with- 
out interruption or the slightest unpleasantness. It 
was evident at an early hour that preparations were 



158 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

being made for some unusual ceremony. The day hav- 
ing been declared a public holiday by Congress, every 
one was free to participate in the exercises or to wit- 
ness the spectacle of a ^rafefw^ mce doing homage to a 
cherished name. 

Long before the procession appeared upon the streets, 
the sidewalks were lined with people, and the windows 
were crowded with spectators. The flags upon the 
Senate and House of Representatives, the public build- 
ings, and many private buildings, were suspended at 
half-mast. 

Nearly all of the colored organizations in the city 
took part in the parade, and the vicinity of Seventh 
and K streets, which was selected as the rendezvous, 
presented a very animated scene during the formation 
of the line. After all had been assigned to their plac- 
es, about noon, the command to march was given, and 
the procession moved. The column was preceded by 
a detachment of mounted police, under the command 
of Sergeant Redway, and moved in the following 
order: 

Charles H. Marshall, chief marshal; Aaron Russell, 
right aid; Robert Hatton, left aid; John W. Freeman, 
chief of staff; Edward Allen, Samuel Martin, Isaac 
Davenport, Thos. H. Smith, B. Freeman, Jas. F. Jack- 
son, Thos„ W. Chase, Edward Brockenburgh, Robert 
Ward, Perry H. Carson, Henry C. Bolden, William 
H. Edinburgh, Dr. Tucker, Henson Davis, W. A Lav- 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 159 

alette, Isaac Shiner, James H. Hill, James A. Green, 
William H. Simpson, St. Clair Burlej, John D. Wal- 
lace, Edward Morris and Llojd Brooks, staff officers. 
First battalion colored troops, commanded by Major 
C. B. Ficher (headed by the Philharmonic band, of 
Georgetown, Prof. King, leader) ; Company A, Captain 
Poland; Company B, Captain Marshall, and Company 
C, Captain Graham. 

Next followed the Knights templar, making an at- 
tractive appearance. Rising Sun Commandery, K. T., 
of Baltimore, headed by the Monumental band, A. Mose- 
ley, E. commander; J. S. Brown, generalissimo; E.E . 
Auguster, captain general. Excelsior cornet band, of 
Baltinjore. St, John's Commandery, No. 2, of the 
same city, S. W. Chase, E. commander; E. Carty, gen- 
eralissimo; H. Wadde, captain general. Emanuel Com- 
mandery, No. 3, K. T., also of Baltimore, I. M. Wad- 
dey, commander. 

The Knights of St, Augustine came next. There 
are two organizations. Knights of St. Augustine 
(original), No. 1, S. Burns, captain general; B. H. Wa- 
ters, marshal; .lames Gant and A Fletcher, aids, head- 
ed by the Beethoven band. 

Knights of St. Augustine, No. 2., W. W. Smith, 
commander; John Eglin, captain general; John Mitch- 
ell, deputy, headed by the National band. They had 
in line a fine banner; on the front a painting of the 
saint. 



160 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

Carriages containing Prof. Langston, Hon. F. Doug- 
lass, Mr. W. E. Matthews and others. 

Xext came the South Washington band and Sons of 
Purity, Sons of Levi, Good Samaritans, Young Men's 
(Island) Benevolent Association, Sons of Zion, Sons of 
St. John, Labor League, carrying a large United States 
flag; Pioneer Corps, of Alexandria, uniformed in black 
pants and blue shirts, and headed by a drum corps. 

The route was along K street to Seventeenth, to 
Pennsylvania avenue through the grounds of the Ex- 
ecutive Mansion; along Pennsylvania avenue to First 
Btreet west, to C street north, to First street east, to 
East Capitol street, to the park. 

During the march of the procession Prof. Widdows, 
of the Metropolitan M. E. Church cliimes, played on 
the bells national airs of difierent countries, "Funeral 
Changes," in E minor; "Funeral March," in A minor; 
Scotch melody, "A Man's a Man for a' That," "Hold 
the Fort," "Mary Blaine," "Uncle Ned," &c. 

Long before the procession reached the park the peo- 
ple began to gather there, having come by a more di- 
rect route than the column. The Statue was draped 
and entirely concealed in flags, and considerable curi- 
osity to see the forms under the bunting was manifest- 
ed. In front of the statue a large stand had been e- 
rected for the reception of the speakers and the guests 
invited by the committee. 

After the procession arrived upon the grounds the 
stand was soon filled with guests. Immediately be- 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 161 

hind the speaker's stand were seated President Grant, 
Senator Ferry, the members of the Cabinet and the 
Justices of the Supreme Court, Senators Morton, Bout- 
well, Spencer, Sherman, Bruce and others of the Senate; 
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Conant,TIons. S. S 
Cox, N. P. Banks and other members of the house; 
the Japanese Minister, Seargent-at-Arms French, Dr. 
C. C. Cox, Hon. W. B. Snell, Dr. J. B. Blake, the dis- 
tinguished gentlemen who were to take part in the exer- 
cises, and many other distinguished personages. 

The Marine band, stationed at the right of the 
stand, opened the exercises by playing "Hail Columbia." 

Professor John M. Langstou, Chairman of the Nat- 
ional Committee of arrangements, presided. 
Bishop John M. Brown, of the African M. E. Church, 
offered a devout prayer, during the utterance of which 
a solemn and reverent silence was maintained through- 
out the vast throng. 

Hon. J. Henri Burch, of Louisiana, read the pro- 
clamation of emancipation, which was received with 
as much enthusiasm as if it had just been issued, and ^ 
at the conclusion the Marseillaise hymn was played. 

Prof. Langsion then introduced Mr. James E. Yeat- 
man, president of the Western Sanitary Commission. 

Mr. Yeatman said: The Eev. Wm. G.' Eliot of St. 
Louis, to whom had been assigned the presentation of 
the monument for the acceptance and approval of those 
who had contributed the funds for its erection, and to 



162 THE^ EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

give a short historical account of the same, has been 
prevented from doing so, and it has only been within the 
last few hours that I received notice that he could not be 
present, and that I was requested to take his place, 
which I am but poorly qualified to do. Asking your 
kind and considerate indulgence, I shall proceed to do 
80, as the representative and president of the "Western 
Sanitary Commission, to whom was intrusted the con- 
tributions of freedmen, and the expenditure of the same 
for the erection of the freedmen's memorial at the jSTat- 
ional Capital. 

It is perhaps proper that I should tell you how it 
was that a sanitary commission came to be en trusted with 
this work. This commission, composed of Rev. Wm. 
G. Eliot, George Partridge, Carlos S. Greeley, Dr. J. B • 
Johnson and James E. Yeatman, well known Union 
citizens of St. Louis, were appointed by General John 
C. Fremont, and afterwards ratified by Secretary Stan- 
ton. Their duties principally were to look after the 
sick, fit up and furnish hospitals, provide competent 
nurses, &c. But as the war progressed their duties were 
greatly enlarged. The care ol families and orphans of 
soldiers. Union refugees, the freedmen; m short, all the 
humanities growing out of the war came under their 
charge. For these purposes large sums of money, cloth- 
ing, &c., were contributed and sent to them, and I can 
say honestly and judiciously expended. Their total 
receipts amounted to over four and a quarter millions, 
the whole of which was the spontaneous gift of indi- 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 163 

viduals in all parts of the country, from San Francisco 
to Maine, and without the aid of a single organized aux- 
iliary association. 

And finally, after the war was closed; after the la- 
mented, honored and loved Lincoln had been so foully 
assassinated in this city, five dollars was sent to us — 
the contribution of Charlotte Scott, a poor slave wo- 
man, who, on hearing of the assassination of President 
Lincoln, went in great distress to her mistress — that 
had been, for she was then free — and said to her: "The 
colored people have lost their best friend on earth I Mr. 
Lincoln was our best friend, and I will give five dol- 
lars of my wages towards erecting a monument to his 
memory." This money; this five dollars; this grain of 
mustard seed, contributed by Charlotte Scott in grati- 
tude to her deliverer, was sent to us by her former mas- 
ter, Mr. Wm. P. Pucker, through the hands of Gener- 
al T. C. H. Smith, then in command of the military 
post of St. Louis, having received it from Mr. Pucker, 
who was a Union refugee, from Virginia, having sought 
safety tor himself and family in Marietta, Ohio, tak- 
ing along with him Charlote Scott, and perhaps others 
belonging to him. It was this five dollars that was 
the foundation of this beautiful and appropriate memor- 
ial which we now see before us. General Smith ad- 
dressed a letter to me, conveying it, which was as fol- 
lows : 

St. Louis, April, 26, 1864. 
Jmnes E. Yeaiman, Esq.: 

My Dear Sir.- A poor negro woman, of Marietta, 



164 TUE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

Ohio, one of those made free by President Lincoln's 
proclanuitiou, proposes that a monument to their dead 
friend be erected by the colored people of the United 
States. She has handed to a person in Marietta five 
dollars as her contribution for the purpose. Such a 
monument would have a history more grand and touch- 
ing than any of which we have account. Would it not be 
well to take up this suggestion and make it known 
to the freedmen ? 

Yours truly, T. C. H.Smith. 

In compliance with General Smith's suggestion I 
published his letter, with a card, stating that any de- 
siring to contribute to a fund for such a purpose, that 
the Western Sanitary Commission would receive the 
same and see that it w^as judiciously appropriated as 
intended. In response to his communication, liberal 
contributions were received from colored soldiers un- 
der thoconmiand of General J. W. Davidson, headquar- 
ters at Natchez, Miss., amounting in all to $12,150. 
This was subsequently increased from other scources to 
$16,242. 

"Marietta, Ohto, June 2gih, iS6j. 
"Mr. James E. Yeatman, 

President Western Smiitary Conanission. St. Louis: 
"My Dkak Sir: I have learned, with the greatest satisfac- 
tion, through Brigadier General T. C. H. Smith, and the public 
press, that you are devoting your noble energies in giving tone 
and direction to the collection and appropriation of a fund for 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 165 

the erection of the Frccdmcn's National Monument, in honor 
and memory of the benefactor and savior of their race. 

"The General also informs me that you desire, and have re- 
quested through him that the five dollars deposited with the 
Rev. C. H. Battkllk, of this cit3^ by Charlotte Scot r, should 
be used as the orignial and foiduUxtioii subscription for this most 
praiseworthy purpose; and Mr. Battele assures me that he will 
most cheerfully remit it to you this day. As a slaveholder by 
inheritance, and up to a period after the outbreak of the rebel- 
lion, and as an ardent admirer of our lamented President, the 
author of universal emancipation in America, I feel an enthu- 
siastic interest in the success of the Freedmen's National Mon- 
ument. I hope it may stand unequalled and unrivalled in gran- 
deur and m.'ignificence. It should be built essentially by freed- 
men, and should be emphatically national. Every dollar should 
come from the former slaves ; every State should furnisli a stone, 
and the monument should be erected at the capital of the na- 
tion. Nothing could be better calculated to stimulate this down- 
trodden and abused race to renewed efforts for a moral an^l nat- 
ional status. 

"ChARLOTTE ScOTT, whose photograph (xeneral Smith will 
forward, was born a slave in Campbell county, Virginia. She 
is about sixty years old. but is very hale and active. Her rep- 
utation for industry, intelligence, and moral integrity has al- 
ways been appreciated by her friends and acquaintances, both 
white and colored. She was given, with other slaves, to 
my wife, by her father. Thomas H. Sco'J'T. When we re- 
ceived the news of Mr. Linx'oln'.s assassination, the morning 
after its occurrence, she was deeply distressed. In a conversa- 
with Mrs. Rucker, she said : " The colored people have lost their 
best friend on earth; Mr. LINCOLN was our best friend, and I will 
give five dollars of my wages towards erecting a monument to his 
memory." She asked me who would be the best person to raise 



166 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

money for the purpose ; I suggested Mr. Battelle, and she 
gave him the five dollars. 

"I am, my dear sir, 

"Truly and respectfully, 

" WM. P. RUCKER." 

Marietta, Ohio, }7me 2g, 1S63. 
"Mr. J E. Yeatman, 

"Dear Sir : I was providentially called upon by Charlotte 
Scott, formerly a slave of Dr. W. P. Rucker, now living in 
this place, to receive the enclosed $5, as the commencement of 
a fund to be applied to rearing a monument to the memory of 
Hon. Abraham Lincoln. 

"I received her offering, and gave notice through the press 
that I would' receive other donations, and cheerfully do what I 
could to promote so noble an object. Other persons have sig- 
nified their willingness to give when the measuie is fully inaug- 
urated. 

"By the advice of General T. C. H. Smith I herewith forward 
you her contribution, and I hope to hear from you upon its re- 
ceipt, that I may show to Charlotte and others that the money 
has gone in the right direction. After hearing from you, I hope 
to be able to stir up the other colored folks on this subject. 

"I rejoice, dear sir, that I have some connection with this 
honorable movement in its incipiency, I shall not fail to watch 
its progress with thrilling interest, and hope to live until the 
top-stone bhall be laid, amid the jubilant rejoicing of emancipa- 
ted millions crying, 'Grace, grace unto it.' 

"Very respectfully yours, 

"C. D. BATTELLE." 

The publication of the note of Mr. Yeatman, and the first 
communication received concerning the colored woman's pro- 
posed offering, brought the following letters and contributions 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 167 

showing how generously the proposition of Charlotte Scott 
was responded to by the colored troops stationed at Natchez, 
Miss. These contributions have been duly deposited, for safe 
keeping, towards the Freedmen's National Monument to Mr* 
Lincoln. 

Headquarters, 6th U. S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 
Fort McPherson, Natchez, May ig, 'iS6j. 
"James E. Yeatman, 

"Preszdent IVesfern Sanitary Commission, St. Louis, 
"Dear Sir : I hereby transmit to you, to be appropriated to 
the monument to be erected to the late President Lincoln, 
the sum of four thousand two hundred and forty-two dollars, the 
gift from the soldiers and freedmen of this regiment. Allow me to 
say that I feel proud of my regiment for their liberal contribu- 
tion inhonorof our lamented chief. Please acknowledge receipt. 
"Very respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 
"JOHN P. COLEMAN 
" Lieutenant Colonel, commanding 6th U. S. Colored Heavy 
Artillery. 

"Amounts, as donated by their respective companies : Co A, 
$515 ; Co. B, $594, Co. C, 514; Co. D; $464; Co. E, $199; Co. 
F, $409; Co. G, $284; Co. H, $202 ; Co. L $423 ; Co. K, $231 ; 
Co. L. S142 ; Co. M, $354. Total, $4,242." 

Headquarters, 70TH U. S. Colored Infantry, 
Rodney, Miss., May jo,i86j. 

"Brevet Major Gereral J. W. Davidson, 

"Commanding District of Natchez, Miss., 
"General : I have the honor to enclose the sum of two 
thousand nine hundred and forty-nine dollars and fifty cents 
[$2,949.50], as the amount collected, under your suggestion, for 



1H8 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. Every dollar of this mone)' has been subscribed 
by the black enlisted men of my regiment, which has only an 
aggregate of six hundred and eighty three I683] men. Much 
more might have been raised, but I cautioned the officers to 
check the noble generosity of my men, rather than stimulate 
it. Allow me to add that tlie soldiers e.xpect that the monu- 
ment is to 'be built by black people's money exclusively. They 
feel deeply that the debt of gratitude they owe is large, and 
anything they can do to keep his 'memory green,' will be done 
cheerfully and promptly. 

If there is a monument built proportionate to the venera- 
tion with which the black people hold his memory, then its 
summit will be among the clouds — the first to catch the gleam 
and herald the approach of coming day, even as President Lin- 
coln himself first proclaimed the first gleam, as well as glorious 
light, of universal freedom. 

"I am. General, most respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 
"W. C. EARLES, 
"Colonel yol/i U. S. C. I)ifa>itry , 

"District of Natchez, May 21. iS6j.' ' 
" Hon. James E. Yeatman : 

"Upon seeing your suggestions in the Democrat, I wrote to 
my Colonels of colored troops, and they are responding most 
nobly to the call. Farrar's regiment [6th U. S. Heavy Artil- 
lery], sent some $4,700. The money here spoken of has been 
turned over to Major W. C. Lupton, Paymaster U. S. A., for 
you. Please acknowledge receipt through the Missouri Demo- 
crat. The idea is, that the monument shall be raised to Mr. Li n- 
col's memory at the national capital, exclusively by the race he 

has set free. 

Very truly yours, 

J. W. DAVIDSON, 

''Brez'et Major General." 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 169 

"Head Pay Deparimeni', Najche/:, Miss., June /j, iS6j. 
"James E. Yeatman Esq., 

" President Western Sanitary Commission, St. Louis. 
"Sir: The colored soldiers of this district, Brevet Major 
General Davidson commanding, feeling the great obligations 
they are under to our late President, Mr. Lincoln, and desiring 
to perpetuate his memory, have contributed to the erection of 
a monument it the national capital, as follows: 

70th U. S. C. Infantry, Colonel W. C. Earle $2,949.50 

Three Companies 63d U. S. C. Infantry, — ^A, C, and E, 

Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell 263.00 

Freedmen of Natchez 31 2.38 

Total $3,529-85 

" Added to this, Major John P. Coleman, of the 6th U. S. 
C. Heavy Artillery, stationed here, has Sent you nearly five 
thousand dollars for the same fund, and the 57th U. S. C. In- 
fantry desire me, at the next pay day, to collect one dollar per 
man. which will swell the amount to nearly ten thousand dol- 
lars. This is a larg<= contribution from not quite seventeen hun- 
dred men, and it could have been madelarger — many of the men 
donating over half their pay, and in some instances the whole of 
it — but it was thought best to limit them. 

" Will you please publish this, that the colored soldiers, and 
their friends, may know that their money has gone forward, and 
send me a copy of the paper. 

" I am, sir, with regard, 

" W. C. LUPTON, 

Paymaster U. S. A. 

These noble contributions are a striking evidence ot 
the favor with which this movement is regarded by 
the colored people, and especiallv the brave soldiers of 



170 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

this oppressed race who have been fighting to carry 
out the proclamation of their benefactor, securing them 
their liberty. 

There are those, perhaps, who may think that some 
other form of testimonial, such as the emdowment of 
some great charity, would be better; but the colored 
people of the Ui '.ted States, and especially the liberated 
bondmen, wish something tangible and visible to the 
eye of present and future generations, that will testify 
of their love and gratitude to their great deliverer. 
Towards any enterprise, such as the founding of schools 
and colleges for the education of the colored people, the 
whole country would expect to contribute ; but it is 
peculiarly fitting that from this race alone, a monu- 
ment should ascend, at the capital of th6 nation, show- 
ing forth, to the whole world of mankind, the appre_ 
elation of an emancipated race for their greatest earth- 
ly benefactor. 

From the liberal contributions made in the first in. 
stance,we were led to believe that a very much larger sum 
would have been donated. But, as our determination 
was to have a free-will oiFering without solicitation we 
determined to rest with what was voluntarily contrib. 
uted. This prevented the execution of a design made 
and submitted by Harriet Hosmer, one of America's 
most renowned sculptors. The design was one of great 
beauty and merit, and could it have been executed, it 
would have been one of the grandest and most beautiful 



THE EMANCIPATION VIONUMENT. 171 

monumental works of art ever erected in this or any 
other country. I mention this now as the design and 
its adoption by the commission was generally known, 
and some explanation for its non-execution may be 
deeuK-d necessary. It was published in the London 
Art Journal and other journals in this and other coun- 
tries. I trust yet that the gratitude of the freed peo- 
ple will prompt them to execute this grand design. 
I now proceed to give you the history of the Lincoln 
monument as adopted and executed. 

One of the members of the Western i^anitary Com- 
mission, Rev. "Wm. G. Eliot, being in Florence in the 
autumn of 1869, when visiting the studio of Mr. Thom- 
as Ball saw the group subsequently adopted, and was 
so much pleased with it that he spoke strongly in its 
praise after returning to St. Louis. He had learned 
from Mr. Ball that the work was conceived and execu- 
ted under the first influence of the news of Mr. Lincoln's 
assassination. Xo order for such a group had been re. 
ceived, but Mr. Ball felt sure that the time would come 
when there would be a demand for it, and at any rate, 
he felt an inward demand to produce it. Ilis aim was 
to present one single idea, representing tlie great woi'k 
for the accomplishment of which Abraham Lincoln 
lived and died ; and all accessory ideas are carefully ex- 
cluded. Mr. Ball also determined not to part with it 
except under such circumstances as to insure its just 
appreciation, not merely as a work of art but as a labor 
of love — a tribute to American patriotism. 



172 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

For several years it had stood there in its place, g reat- 
ly admired, but not finding the direction of its rightful 
destination. But, when the artist heard of the possi- 
ble use to which it might be put as the memorial of 
freedom by the emancipated slaves themselves, he at 
once said that he should hold it with that view until 
the commission were prepared to take action, and that 
the price to be paid would be altogether a secondary con- 
sideration. When the description was given to the 
other members of the Western Sanitary Comniissio n 
they sent for photographs, four of which, presenting 
the group at dift'erent points of view, were taken in 
Florence and forwarded to them. They at once decided 
to accept the design, and an order was given for its 
immediate execution in bronze, in accordance with the 
suggestions made by Mr. Ball. The original group was 
in Italian marble, and differs in some respects from the 
bronze group now to be inaugurated. In the original 
the kneeling slave is represented as perfectly passive, 
receiving the boon of freedom from the hand of tlie 
great liberator. But the artist justly changel this, to 
bring the presentation nearer to the historical fact, bj^ 
making the emancipated slave an agent in his own 
delivorenee. 

He is accordingly represented as exerting his own 
strength with strained muscles in breaking the chain 
which had bound him. A far greater degree of digni- 
ty and vigor, as well as of historical accuracj^, is thus 
imparted. The original was also changed by introduc- 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 173 

ing, instead of an ideal slave, the tigure of a living 
man — the last slave ever taken up in Missouri under 
the fugitive slave law, and who was rescued from his 
captors ( who had transcended their legal authority ) 
under the orders of the provost Marshal of St. Louis. 
His name was Archer Alexander, and his condition of 
servitude legally continued until the emancipation act 
hecame the law of the land. A photographic picture 
was sent to Mr. Ball, who has given both the face and 
manly bearing of the negro. The ideal group is thus 
converted into the literal truth of history without los- 
ing anything of its artistic conception or effect. The 
monument, in bronze, now inaugurated, was cast at the 
Royal foundry, in Munich. An exact copy of the or- 
iginal group as first designed by Mr. Ball, has been ex- 
ecuted by him in pure white Italian marble for the 
Western Sanitary Commission, and will be permanent- 
ly placed, as "Freedom's Memorial," in some public 
building of St. Louis. Of the eminent sculptor, Thom- 
as Ball, to whose geuious and love of country the 
whole praise of the work is due, it is unnecessary to 
speak. His design was accepted, after three years' 
diligent seeking, solely on its merits. But it is a source 
of congratulation to all lovers of the American Union 
that this monument, in memory of the people's Presi- 
dent and the Freedmen's best friend, is from the hand 
of one who not only stands in the foremost rank of 
living artists, but who is himself proud to be called an 
American citizen. 



174 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

The amount paid Mr. Ball for the bronze group was 
$17,000, every cent of which has been remitted to him. 
So you have a finished monument, all paid for. The 
Government appropriated $3,000 for the foundation 
and pedestal upon which the bronze group scands, mak- 
ing the cost, in all, $20,000. I have thus given j^-ou 
a brief history of the Freedmen's Memorial Monument, 
and how and why the Western Sanitary Commission 
came to have anything to do with it. To them it has 
been a labor of love. In the execution of the work they 
have exercised their best judgment — done the best 
that could be done with the limited means they had to 
do it with. It remains with you and those who will 
follow to say how wisely or how well it has been done. 
Whatever of honor, whatever of glory belongs to this 
work, should be given to Charlotte Scott, the poor 
slave woman. Her offering of gratitude and love, like 
that of the widow's mite, will be remembered in heav- 
en when the gifts of those rich in this world's goods 
shall have passed away and been forgotten. 
. Professor Langston, receiving the statue, said : "In 
behalf of our entire nation, in behalf especially of the 
donors of the fund with whose investment you and 
your associates of the 'Western Sanitary Commission' 
have been charged, I tender to you, sir, and through 
you to the commission, our sincere thanks for the 
prompt and wise performance of the trust and duty com- 
mitted to your care. The finished and appropriate 
work of art presented by you we accept and dedicate 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 175- 

tlirou,o-h tlie ages in memory and honor of him who is 
to be forever known in the records of the world's his- 
tory as the emancipator of the enskxved of our country. 
We unveil it to the gaze, the admiration of man- 
kind. 

'•Fellow-citizens, according to the arrangement of 
the order of exercises of this occasion it had fallen to 
my lot to unveil this statute which we dedicate to-day; 
but we have with us the President of the United States 
and it strikes me that it is altogether fit and proper 
to now ask him to take part in the exercises so far as 
to unveil this monument." 

President Grant advanced to the front of the stand. 
A moment passed in the deepest silence, but when the 
President pulled the cord and the flags fell away, and 
the bronze figures were exposed to view, the peo- 
ple burst into spontaneous applause and exclamations 
of admiration. To the noisy manifestations of admi- 
ration were added the booming of cannon and the 
strains of the band, which struck up " Hail to the 
Chief." ' 

The monument stands on a granite pedestal ten feet 
in height, for which an appropriation was made by the 
last congress. The martyred President is standing be- 
side a monolith, upon which is a bust of Washington 
in bas relief. In his right hand he holds the proclama- 
tion, while his left is stretched over a slave, upon whom 
his eyes are bent, who is just rising, and from whose 
limbs the shackles have just burst. The figure of the 



176 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

slave is that of a man worn by toil, with muscles hard- 
ened and rigid. He is represented as just rising from 
the earth, while his face is lighted with joy as he an- 
ticipates the full manhood of freedom. Upon the base 
of the monument is cut the word "Emancipation." 
The figures are colossal, and the eft'ect is grand. On 
the front, in bronze letters, the following inscription: 

freedom's memorial. 

" In grateful memory of Abraham Lincoln, this 
monument was erected by the Western Sanitary Com- 
mission, of St. Louis, Mo., with funds contributed sole- 
ly by emancipated citizens of the United States, declar- 
ed free by his proclamation, January 1, A. D. 1863. 

"The first contribution of five dollars was made by 
Charlotte Scott, a freed woman of Virginia, being her 
first earnings in freedom, and consecrated by her sugges- 
tion and request, on the day she heard of President 
Lincoln's death, to build a monument to his memory." 

On the reverse: 

" And upon this act, sincerely believed to be'an act 
of justice, warranted by the constitution upon military 
necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment ot man- 
kind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God." 

The following Poem, written for the occasion by Miss 
Cordelia Ray of I^ew York, was then read. 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 177 

LINCOLN. 



To-day O martyred chief! beneath the sun 

We would unveil thy form ; to thee who won 

The applause of nations, for thy soul sincere, 

A living tribute we would offer here. 

'Twas thine not worlds to conquer, but men's hearts ; 

To change to balm the sting of slavery's darts; 

In lowly charity thy joy to find. 

And open "gates of mercy on mankind," 

And so they come, the freed, with grateful gift. 

From whose sad path the shadows thou didst lift. 

Eleven years have rolled their seasons round 
Since its most tragic close thy life-work found. 
Yet through the vistas of the vanished days 
We see thee still, responsive to our gaze 
As ever to thy country's solemn needs. 
Not regal coronets, but princely deeds 
Were thy chaste diadem ; of truer worth 
Thy modest virtues than the gems of earth. 
Staunch, honest, fervent in the purest cause. 
Truth was thy guide ; her mandates were thy laws. 

Rare heroism ; spirit Durity ; 
The storied Spartan's stern simplicit}'; 
Such moral strength as gleams like burnished gold 
Amid the doubts of men of weaker mold 
Were thine. Called in thy country's sorest hour. 
When brother knew not brother— mad for power — 
To guide the helm through bloody deeps of war. 
While distant nations gazed in anxious awe. 
Unflinching in the task, thou didst fulfill 
Thy mighty mission with a deathless will. 



178 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

Born to a destiny the most sublime, 
Thou wert, O Lincoln! in the march of time. 
God bade thee pause — and bid the oppressed go free- 
Most glorious boon giv'n to humanity, 
While Slavery ruled the land, what deeds were done! 
What tragedies enacted 'neath the sun! 
Her page is blurred with records of defeat ■ 
Of lives heroic lived in silence — meet 
For the world's praise — of woe, despair, and tears — 
The speechless agony of weary years ! 

Thou utterest the word, and Freedom fair 
Rang her sweet bells on the clear winter air ; 
She waved her magic wand, and lo ! from far 
A long procession came ! with many a scar 
Their brows were wrinkled— in the bitter strife, 
Full many had said their sad farewell to life. 
But on they hasten'd — free — their shackles gone — 
The aged, young — e'en infancy was borne 
To offer unto thee loud paeons of praise — 
Their happy tribute after saddest days. 

A race set free ! The deed brought joy and light ! 
It bade calm justice from her sacred height, 
When faith, and hope, and courage slowly waned, 
Unfurl the stars and stripes at last unstained ! 
The nations rolled acclaim from sea to sea. 
And Heaven's vaults rang with Freedom's harmony. 
The Angels, mid the amaranths must have hush'd 
Their chanted cadence, as upward rush'd 
The hymn sublime ; and as the echoes pealed 
God's ceaseless benison the action sealed. 

As now we dedicate this shaft to thee. 
True champion ! in all humility 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 179 

And solemn earnestness, we would erect 
A monument invisible, undecked, 
Save by our allied purpose to be true 
To Freedom's loftiest precepts, so that throuj^di 
The fiercest contest we may walk secure, 
Fixed on foundations that may still endure 
When granite shall have crumbled to decay. 
And generations passed from earth away. 

Exalted patriot! illustrious chief! 

Thy life's immortal work compels belief. 

To-day in radiance thy virtues shine, 

And how can we a fitting garland twine ? 

Thy crown most glorious is a ransomed race ! 

High on our country's scroll we fondly trace 

In lines of fadeless light that softly blend ; 

Emancipation, hero, martyr, friend ! 

While Freedom may her holy sceptre claim, 

The world shall echo with " Our Lincoln's " name. 

Hon. Frederick Douglass, the orator of the day, was 
then introduced, and delivered the following 

ORATION. 

Friends and Fellow Citizens : I warmly congratulate 
you upon the highly interesting object which has caused you to 
assemble in such numbers and spirit as you have to-day.. This 
occasion is in some respects remarkable. Wise and thought- 
ful men of our race, who shall come after us, and study the 
lesson of our history in the United States, who shall survey 
the long and dreary space over which we have traveled, who 
shall count the links in the great chain of events by which we 
have reached our present position, will made a note of thisocca- 



180 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

sion — they will think of it, and with a sense of manly pride and 
complacency. I congratulate you also upon the very favorable 
circumstances in which we meet to-day. They are high, inspir- 
ing and uncommon. They lend grace, glory and significance 
to the object for which we have met. Nowhere else in this 
great country, with its uncounted towns and cities, uncounted 
wealth, and unmeasurable territory extending from sea to sea, 
could conditions be found more favorable to the success 
of this occasion than here. We stand to-day at the national 
centre to perform something like a national act, an act which 
is to go into history, and we are here where every pulsation of 
the national heart can be heard, felt and reciprocated. A 
thousand wires, fed with thought and winged with lightning, 
put us in instantaneous communication with the loyal and true 
men all over the country. Few facts could better illustrate the 
vast and wonderful change which has taken place in our condi- 
tion as a people, than the fact of our assembling here for the 
purpose we have to-day. Harmless, beautiful, proper and praise- 
worthy as this demonstration is, I cannot forget that no such 
demonstration would have been tolerated here twenty years ago. 
The spirit of slavery and barbarism, which still lingers to blight 
and destroy in some dark and distant parts of our country, would 
have made our assembling here to-day the signal and excuse 
for opening upon us all the flood-gates of wrath and violence. 
That we are here in peace to-day is a compliment and credit to 
American civilization, and a prophecy of still greater national 
enlightenment and progress in the future. I refer to the past 
not in malace, for this is no day for malace, but simply to place 
more distinctly in front the gratifying and glorious change 
which has come both to our white fellow-citizens and ourselves, 
and to congratulate all upon the contrast between now and then, 
the new dispensation of freedom with its thousand blessings to 
both races, and the old dispensation of slavery with its ten 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 181 

thousand evils to both races — white and black. In view then, 
of the past, the present and the future, with the long and dark 
history of our bondage behind us, and with liberty, progress 
and enlightenment before us, I again congratulate you upon 
this auspicious day and hour. 

Friends and fellow-citizens : The story of our presence here 
is soon and easily told. We are here in the District of Colum- 
bia ; here in the city of Washington, the most luminous point 
of American territorj^ — a city recently transformed and made 
beautiful in its body and in its spirit ; we are here, in the place 
where the ablest and best men of the country are sent to devise 
the policy, enact the laws and shape the destiny of the Repub- 
lic ; we are here, with the stately pillars and majestic dome of 
the Capitol of the nation looking down upon us; we are here 
with the broad earth freshly adorned with the foliage and flow- 
ers of spring for our church, and all races, colors and conditions 
of men for our congregation ; in a word, we are here to express, 
as best we may, by appropriate forms and ceremo.Ties, our grate- 
ful sense of the vast, high and pre-eminent services rendered to 
ourselves, to our race, to our country and to the whole world, 
by Abraham Lincoln. 

The sentiment that brings us hereto-day is one of the noblest 
that can stir and thrill the human heart. It has crowned and 
made glorious the high places of all civilized nations, with the 
grandest and most enduring works of art,:;designed to illustrate 
characters and perpetuate the memories of great public men. 
It is the sentiment v/hich from year to year adorns with fragrant 
and beautiful flowers the graves of our loyal, brave and patriot- 
ic soldiers who fell in the defense of the Union and liberty. It 
is the sentiment of gratitude and appreciation, which often, in 
the presence of many who hear me, has fdled yonder heights of 
Arlington with the eloquence of eulogy and the sublime cnthus- 



182 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

iasm of poetry and song ; a sentiment which can never die while 
the Repubhc lives. For the first time in the history of our peo- 
ple, and in the history of the whole American people, we join in 
this high worship and march conspicuously in the line of this 
time honored custom. First things are always interesting, and 
this is one of our first things. It is the first time that, in this 
form and manner, we have sought to do honor to any American 
great man, however deserving and illustrious. I commend the 
fact to notice. Let it be told in every part of the Republic ,• let 
men of all parties and opinions hear it ; let those that despise 
us, not less those who respect us, know that now and here, in 
the spirit of liberty, loyalty, and gratitude, let it be known every- 
where and by everybydy who takes an interest in human pro- 
gress and in the amelioration of the condition of mankind, that 
in the presence and with the approval of the members of the 
House of Representat'ves, reflecting the general sentiment of 
the country ; that in the presence of that august body, the 
American Senate, representing the highest intelligence and the 
calmest judgment of the country ; in presence of the Supreme 
Court and Chief Justice of the United States, to whose decis- 
sions we all patriotically bow; in the presence and under 
the steady eye of the honored tiusted President of the United 
States, we, the colored people, newly emancipated and rejoic- 
ing in our blood-bought freedom, near the close of the first cen- 
tur}^ in the life of this Republic, have now and here unveiled, 
set apart, and dedicated a monument of enduring granite, and 
bronze, in every line, feature, and figure of which the men of 
this generation may read — and those of after coming genera- 
tions may read— something of the exalted character and great 
work of Abraham Lincoln, the first martyr President of the 
United States. 

Fellow-citizens : In what we have said and done to-day, and 
in what we may say and do hereafter, we disclaim everything 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 183 

like arrogance and assumption. We claim for ourselves no su- 
perior devotion to the character, history and memory of the 
ilkistrious name whose monument we have here dedicated to- 
day. We fully comprehend the relation of Abraham Lincoln, 
both to ourselves and the white people of the United States. 
Truth is proper and beautiful at all times and in all places, and 
it is never more proper and beautiful in any case than when 
speaking of a great public man whose example is likely to be 
commended for honor and imitation long after his departure 
to the solemn shades, the silent continents of eternity. It must 
be admitted, truth compels me to admit, even here in the pres- 
ence of the monument we have erected to his memory. Abra- 
ham Lincoln was not, in the fullest sense of the word, either 
our man or our model. In his interests, in his associations in 
his habits of thought, and in his prejudices, he was a white man. 
He was pre-eminently the white man's President, entirely de- 
voted to the welfare of white men. He was ready and willing 
at anytime during the first year of his administration to deny, 
postpone and sacrifice the rights of humanity in the colored peo- 
ple, to promote the welfare of the white people of this country. 
In all his education of feelings he was an American of the 
Americans. 

He came into the Presidential chair upon one principle alone, 
namely, opposition to the extension of slavery. His arguments 
in furtherance of this policy had their motive and mainspring 
in his patriotic devotion to the interests of his own race. To 
protect, defend and perpetuate slavery in the States where it 
existed. Abraham Lincoln was not less ready than any other 
President to draw the sword of the nation. He was ready to 
execute all the supposed constitutional guarantees of the Con- 
stitution in favor of the slave system anywhere inside the Slave 
States, He was willing to pursue, recapture and send back the 
fugitive slave to his master, and to suppress a slave rising for 



184 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

liberty, though his guiltj^ master were already in arms against 
the Government. The race to which we belong were not the 
special objects of his consideration. Knowing this, I concede 
to you, my white fellow-citizens, a pre-eminence in this wor- 
ship at once full and supreme. First, midst and last you and 
yours were the object of his deepest affection and his most earn- 
est solicitude. You are the children of Abraham Lincoln: We 
are at best only his step-children, children by adoption, children 
by force of circumstances and necessity. To you it especially 
belongs to sound his praises, to preserve and perpetuate his 
merriory, to multiply his statues, to hang his pictures on your 
walls, and commend his example, for to you he was a great and 
glorious friend and benefactor. Instead of supplanting you at 
this altar we would exort you to build high his monuments ; let 
them be of the most costly workmanship ; let their forms be 
symmetrical, beautiful and perfect ; let their bases be upon sol- 
id rocks, and their summits lean against the unchanging blue 
overhanging sky, and let them endure forever ! But while in 
the abundance of j^our wealth and in the fullness of your just 
and patriotic devotion you do all this, we entreat you to despise 
not the humble offering we this day unveil to view; for while 
Abraham Lincoln saved for you a country, he delivered us from 
a bondage, according to Jefferson, one hour of which was worse 
than ages of the oppression 3'our father rose in rebellion to op- 
pose. 

Fellow-citizens : Ours is a new-born zeal and devotion, a 
thing of the hour. The name of Abraham Lincoln was near 
and dear to our hearts, in the darkest and most perilous hours 
of the Republic. We were no more ashamed of him when shroud- 
ed in clouds of darkness, ot doaot and dcieac taj..i wae.icro.va- 
ed with victoiy, honor and glory. Our faith in him was often 
taxed and strained to tlie uttermost, but it never failed. When 
lie tarried long in the mountain ; when he strangely told us that 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 185 

we were the cause of the war ; when he still more strangely told 
us to leave the land in which we were born ; when he refused 
to employ our arms in defense of the Union ; when, after ac- 
cepting our services as colored soldiers, he refused to retaliate 
when we were murdered as colored prisoners ; when he told us 
he would save the Union if he could with slavery; when he re- 
voked the proclamation of emancipation of General Fremont ; 
when he refused to move the commander of the Army of the 
Potomac, who was more zealous in his efforts to protect slavery 
than suppress rebellion ; when we saw this, and more, we were 
at times stunned, grieved and greatly bewildered ; but our 
hearts believed while they ached and bled. Nor was this, even 
at that time, a blind and unreasoning superstition. Despite the 
mist and haze that surrounded him ; despite the tumult, the hur- 
ry and confusion of the hou r, we were able to take a compre- 
hensive view of Abraham Lincoln, and to make reasonable al- 
lowance for the circumstances of his position. We saw him, 
measured him, and estimated him ; not by stray utterances to 
injudicious and tedious delegations, who often tried his patience; 
not by isolated facts torn from their connection ; not by any par- 
tial and imperfect glimpses, caught at inopportune moments ; but 
by a broad survey, in the light of the stern logic of great events- 
and in view of that divinity which shapes our ends, rough hew 
them as we will, we came to the conclusion that the hour and 
the man of our redemption had met in the person of Abraham 
Lincoln. It mattered little to us what language he might employ 
upon special occasions ; it mattered little to us, when we fully 
knew him, whether he was swift or slow in his movements ; it 
was enough for us that Abraham Lincoln was at the head of a 
great movement, and was in living and earnest sympathy with 
the movement, which, in the nature of things, must go on till 
slavery should be utterly and forever abolished in the United 
States. When, therefore, it shall be asked wTiat we have to do 



186 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

with the memory of Abraham Lincoln, or what Abraham Lin- 
coln had to do with us, the answer is ready, full and complete. 
Though he loved Caesar less than Rome, though the Union was 
more to him than our freedom or our future, under his wise 
and beneficent rule we saw ourselves gradually lifted from the 
depths of slavery to the heights of liberty and manhood ; under 
his wise and beneficent rule, and by measures approved and 
vigorously pressed by him, we saw that the handwriting of ages, 
in the form of prejudice and proscription was rapidly fading a- 
wav from the face of our whole country ; under his rule, and in 
due time, about as soon after all as the country could tolerate 
the strange spectacle, we saw our brave sons and brothers laying 
oR the rags of bondage, and being clothed all over in the blue 
uniforms of the soldiers of the United Slates ; under his rule we 
saw two hundred thousand of our dark and dusky people re- 
sponding to the call of Abraham Lincoln, and, with muskets on 
their shoulders and eagles on their buttons, timing their high 
footsteps to liberty and union under the nationl flag; under 
his rule we saw the independence of the black Republic of Hayti, 
the special object of slave holding aversion and horror fully recog- 
nized, and her minister, a colored gentleman, duly received here 
in the city of Washington ; under his rule we saw the internal 
slave trade which so long disgraced the nation abolished in the 
District of Columbia ; under his rule we saw for the first time 
the law enforced against the foreign slave trade and the first 
slave-trader hanged, like any other pirate or murderer; under 
his rule and his inspiration we saw the Confederate States, bas- 
ed upon the idea that our race must be slaves, and slaves forev- 
ever, battered to pieces and scattered to the four winds ; under 
his rule, and in the fullness of time, we saw Abraham Lincoln, 
after giving the slaveholder three months of grace in which to 
save their hateful slave system, penning the immortal paper 
which, though special in its language, was general in its princi- 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 187 

pies and effect, making slavery forever impossible in the United 
States. Though we waited long we saw all this and more. 

Can any colored man, or any white man friendly to the 
freedom of all men, ever forget the night which followed the 
first day of January, I863 ? When the world was to see if Abra- 
ham Lincoln would prove to be as good as his word ? I shall 
never forget that memorable night, when in a distant city I 
waited and watched at a public meeting, with three thousand 
others not less anxious than myself, for the word of deliverance 
which we have heard read to-day. Nor shall I ever forget the 
outburst of joy and thanksgiving that rent the air when the 
lightning brought to us the emancipation. In that happy hour 
we forgot all delay, and forgot all tardiness, forgot that the 
President had bribed the rebels to lay down their arms by a 
promise to withhold the bolt which would smite the slave sys- 
tem with destruction ; and we were thenceforward willing to al- 
low the President all the latitude of time, phraseology, and 
every honorable device that statesmanship might require for 
the achievement of a great and beneficent measure of liberty 
and progress. 

Fellow citizens, there is little necessity on this occasion to 
speak at length and critically of this great and good man, and 
of his high mission in the world. That ground has been fully 
occupied and completely covered both here and elsewhere. 
The whole field of fact and fancy has been gleaned and garner- 
ed. Any man can say things that are true of Abraham Lincoln, 
but no man can say anything new of Abraham Lincoln. His 
personal traits and public acts are better known to the Ameri- 
can people than are those of any other man of his age. He was 
a mystery to no man who saw him and heard him. Though 
high in position, the humblest could approach him and feel at 
home in his presence. Though deep, he was transparent ; though 
strong, he was gentle ; though decided and pronounced in his 



188 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

convictions, he was tolerant towards those who differed from 
him, and patient under reproaches. 

Even those who only knew him through his public utter- 
ances obtained a tolerably clear idea of his character and his 
personality. The image of the man went out with his words, 
and those who read him knew him. I have said that President 
Lincoln was a white man, and shared the prejudices common 
to our countrymen towards the colored race. Looking back to 
his times and to the condition of the country, this unfriendly 
feeling on his part may safely be set down as one element of his 
wonderful success in organizing the loyal American people for 
the tremendous conflict before them, and bringing them safely 
through that conflict. His great mission was to accomplish two 
things ; first, to save his country from dismemberment and ruin, 
and second, to free his country from the great crime of slavery. 
To do one or the other, or both, he must have the earnest sym- 
pathy and the powerful co-operation of his loyal fellow-country- 
men. Without this primary and essential condition to success, 
his efforts must have been vain and utterly fruitless. Had he 
put the abolition of slavery before the salvation of the Union, 
he would have inevitably driven from him a powerful class of 
American people, and rendered resistance to rebellion impossi- 
ble. Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln 
seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by 
the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a 
statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and deter- 
mined. Though Mr. Lincoln shared the prejudices of his white 
fellow-countrymen against the negro, it is hardly necessary to 
say that in his heart of hearts he loathed and hated slavery. He 
was willing while the Soutn was loyal that it should have its 
pound of flesh, because he thought it was so nominated in the 
bond, but further than this no earthly power could make him go. 
Fellow-citizens, whatever else in this world may be partial. 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 189 

unjust and uncertain, thnc! iimc! is impartial, just and certain 
in its actions. In the realm of matter, it is a great worker, and 
often works wonders, The honest and comprehensive states- 
man, clearly discerning the needs of his country, and earnestly 
endeavoring to io his whole duty, though covered and blister- 
ed with reproaches, may safely leave his course to the silent 
judgment of time. Few great public men have ever been the 
victims of fiercer denunciation than Abraham Lincoln was dur- 
ing his administration. He was often wounded in the house of 
his friends. Reproaches came thick and fast upon him from 
within and from without, and from opposite quarters. He was 
assailed by abolitionists ; he was assailed by slaveholders ; he 
was assailed by men who were for peace at any price ; he was 
assailed by those who were for a more vigorous prosecution 
of the war ; he was assailed for not making the war an abolition 
wap; and he was most bitterly assailed for making the war an a- 
bolition was. But now behold the change ; the judgment of the 
present hour is, that taking him for all in all, measuring the tre- 
mendous magnitude of the work before him, considering the ne- 
cessary means to ends, and surveying the end from the begining, 
infinite wisdom has seldom sent any man into the world better 
fitted for his mission than was Abraham Lincoln. His birth ; his 
training, and his natural endowments, both mental and physical, 
were strongly in his favor. Born and reared among the lowly, 
a stranger to wealth and luxury, compelled to grapple single- 
handed with the flintiest hardships from tender youth to sturdy 
manhood, he grew strong in the manly and heroic qualities de- 
manded by the great mission to which he was called by the 
votes of his countrymen. The hard condition of his early life, 
which would have depressed and broken down weaker men, on- 
ly gave greater life, vigor and buoyancy to the heroic spirit of 
Abraham Lincoln. He was ready for any kind and any qualiity 
of work. What other young men dreaded in the shape of toil, 



190 THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 

he took hold of with the utmost cheerfulness. 
A spade, a rake, a hoe, 
A pick-axe or a bill ; 
A hook to reap, a scythe to mow, 
A flail, or what you will. 

All day long he could split heavy rails in the woods, and 
half the night long he could study his English grammer by the 
uncertain flare and glare of the light made by a pine knot. He 
was at home on the land with his axe, with his maul, with gluts 
and his wedges ; and he was equally at home on water, with his 
oars, with his poles, with his planks and Avith his boathooks. 
And whether in his flatboat on the Mississippi river, or at the 
fireside of his frontier cabin, he was a man of work. A son of 
toil himself he was linked in brotherly sympathy with the sons 
of toil in every loyal part of the Republic. This very fact gave 
him tremendous power with the American people, and mate- 
riall)' contributed not only to selecting him to the Presidency, 
but in sustaining his administration of the Government. 

Upon his inauguration as President of the United States, 
an office even where assumed under the most favorable condi- 
tions, it is fitted to tax and strain the largest abilities, Abraham 
Lincoln was met by a tremendous pressure. He was called up- 
on not merely to administer the Government, but to decide, in 
the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic. A formidable 
rebellion rose in his path before him ; the Union was already 
practically dissolved. His country was torn and rent asunder at- 
the centre. Hostile enemies were already organized against the 
Republic, armed with the munitions of war which the Republic 
had provided for its own defense. The tremendous question 
for him to decide was whether his country should survive the 
crisis and flourish or be dismembered and perish. His prede- 
cessor in office had already decided the question in favor of na- 
tional dismemberment, by denying it the right of self-defense 
and self-preservation. 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 191 

Happily for the country, happily for you and for me, the 
judgment of James Buchanan, the pntrician, was not the judg- 
ment of Abraham Lincoln, the plebeian. He brought his strong 
common sense, sharpened in the school of adversity, to bear 
upon the question. He did not hesitate, he did not doubt, he 
did not falter, but at once resolved at whatever peril, at what- 
ever cost, the union of the States should be preserved. A pa- 
triot himself, his faith was firm and unwavering in the patriot- 
ism of his countrymen. Timid men said before Mr. Lincoln's 
inauguration that we had seen the last President of the L^nited 
States. A voice in influential quarters said let the Union slide. 
Tome said that a Union rr^aintained by the sword was worthless. 
Others said a rebellion of 8,000,000 cannot be suppressed. But 
in the midst of all this tumult and timidity, and against all this 
Abraham Lincoln was clear in his duty, and had an oath in 
heaven. He calmly and bravely heard the voice of doubt and 
fear all around him, but he had an oath in heaven, and there was 
not power enough on earth to make this honest boatman, back- 
woodsman and broad-handed splitter of rails evade or violate 
that sacred oath. He had not been schooled in the ethics of 
slavery ; his plain life favored his love of truth. He had not 
been taught that treason and perjury were the proofs of honor 
and honesty. His moral training was against his saying one 
thing when he meant another. The trust which Abraham Lin- 
coln had of himself and in the people was surprising and grand, 
but it was also enlightened and well founded. He knew the 
American people better than they knew themselves, and his 
truth was based upon his knowledge. 

Had Abraham Lincoln died from any of the numerous ills to 
which flesh is heir ; had he reached that good old age to which 
his vigorous constitution and his temperate habits gave prom- 
ise ; had he been permitted to see the end of his great work ; had 
the solemn curtain of death come down but gradually, we should 



192 



THE EMANCIPATION MONUMENT. 



Still have been smitten with a heavy grief and treasured his name 
lovingly. But dying as he did die, by the red hand of vio- 
lence ; killed, assassinated, taken off without warning, not be- 
cause of personal hate, for no man who knew Abraham Lincoln 
could hate him, but because of his fidelity to Union and liberty, 
he is doubly dear to us, and will be precious forever, 

Fellow-citizens, I end as I begin, with congratulations. We 
have done a good work for our race to-day. In doing honor to 
the memory of our friend and liberator we have been doing 
highest honor to ourselves and those who come after us. We 
have been fastening ourselves to a name and fame imperishable 
and immortal. We have also been defending ourselves from a 
blighting slander. When now it shall be said that the colored 
man is soulless: that he has no appreciation of benefits or bene- 
factors ; when the foul reproach of ingratitude is hurled at us, 
and it is attempted to scourge us beyond the range of human 
brotherhood, we may calmly point to the monument we have 
this day erected to the memory of Abraham Lincoln." 



EMjl\CIPjlTIO\ BY THE INDIANS, 



EMANCIPATION^ BY THE INDIANS. 



Doubtless it is generally believed that the eman- 
cipation proclamation, thirteenth amendment to the 
National Constitution, and the several acts of Congress 
passed in furtherance of the abolition of slavery in the 
several States and Territories of the United States gave 
freedom to all the slaves'therein ; in this opinion the his- 
torians have taken no small share and the American peo- 
ple, particularly at the North, so accepted the efficacious- 
ness of these acts, rendered still more effective by the 
surrender of Generals Lee's and Johnson's forces — all 
that remained of the Confederate armies in 18G 5, — that 
they heralded the birth of universal emancipation 
throughout the country. Literally this was not true,, 
for there yet remained in slavery within the boundary 
of the United States, thousands of Negro slaves. While 
civilization and freedom have marched side by side with 
each other, the civilization of the two sections. North 
and South, has been as distinct as that of Germany and 
Spain, the one giving freedom to the many and the 
other freedom to the few, and this may be seen from 
the result of the teachings of the two sections regard- 
ing the uncivilized Indian tribes inhabiting them — 
though strongly opposing the mode and manner of the 
European specially in that of husbandry — yet they were 



EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS. 195 

sometimes obliged to give up their prejudices and vices 
and accept the civilization of the European or be driven 
from their hunting grounds into the Western forest 
there to become extinct. 

Several of the Southern tribes however had not the 
opportunity of thus fleeing from civilization ; they were 
surrounded by Europeans who landed on the shores of 
the Atlantic and descended either the Ohio or ascended 
the Mississippi and settled upon their borders. Thus cut 
ofl'from retreat— unlike the tribes at the Forth — driven 
before the rapid advance of civilization, but tenced 
within narrow limits, unable to make good theirescape, 
they accepted so much of civilization as allowed them 
either to remain with the whites, intermingling with 
them, or though living separately,were doomed to labor 
in agricultural fields, and in short they imbibed all the 
vices of their civilizers and sought luxurious ease 
through the labor of the ]!!^egro and became slave 
holders themselves. The Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, 
Chickasaws, and Seminole tribes were found in pos- 
session of twelve thousand six hundred and six l^egro 
slaves at the close of the war of 1861-5. Demands for 
the liberation of the slaves were made by the United 
States government, but each demand was met with a 
refusal, and as the government of the states in which 
these tribes lived had not taxed them,and as the United 
States government had ever dealt with them as Nations^ 
consequently she found no authority to enforce either 
the Emancipation edict, or the provisions of the amend- 



196 EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS. 

ed National Constitution, but by treaties made with .the 
United States, these tribes, in 1866, emancipated their 
slaves. 

The Seminole Nation in a treat}^ concluded March 
21st, 1806, specified that: 

"The Seminole nation covenant that henceforth in said nation 
slavery shall not exist, nor involuntary servitude, except for and 
in punishment of crime, whereof the offending party shall first 
have been duly convicted in accordance with law, applicable to 
all the members of said nation. And inasmuch as there are a- 
mong the Seminoles many persons of African descent and blood, 
who have no interest or property in the soil, and no recognized 
civil rights, it is stipulated that hereafter these persons and their 
descendants, and such other of the same race as shall be per- 
mitted by said nation to settle there, shall have and enjoy all 
the rights of native citizens, and the laws of said nation shall 
be equally binding upon all persons of whatever race or color 
who may be adopted as citizens or members of said tribe." 

The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations entered into 
a treaty with the United States of America on the 
28th of April, 1866, in which it was stipulated. 

" That henceforth neither slavery nor involuntary servi- 
tude, otherwise than in punishment of crime whereof the parties 
shall have been duly convicted, in accordance with laws appli- 
cable to all members of the particular nation, shall ever exist in 
said nations. 

Article 3. 
^^ " The Choctaws and Chickasaws, in consideration of the sum 
of $300,000, hereby cede to the United States the territory west 
of the 980 west longitude, known as the leased district, provided 
that the said sum shall be invested and held by the United 



EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS 197 

States, at an interest not less than fiv^e per cent., in trust for the 
said nations, until the legislatures of the Choctaw and Chicka- 
saw nations respectively shall have made such laws, rules, and 
regulations as may be necessary to give all persons of African 
descent, resident in the. said nations at the date of the treaty of 
Fort Smith, and their descendants, heretofore held in slavery 
among said nations, all the rights, privileges, and immunities, 
including the right of suffrage, of citizens of said nations except 
in the annuities, moneys, and public domain claimed by, or be- 
longing to, said nations respectively ; and also to give to such 
persons who were residents as aforesaid, and their descendants , 
forty acres each of the land of said nations on the same terms 
as the Choctaws and Chickasaws, to be selected on the survey 
of said land, after the Choctaws and Chickasaws and Kansas 
Indians have made their selections as herein provided ; and im- 
mediatel}^ on the enactment of such laws, rules, and regulations, 
the said sum of $300,000 shall be paid to the said Choctaw and 
Chickasaw nations in the proportion of three-fourths to the 
former and one-fourth to the latter — less such sum, at the rate 
of one hundred dollars per capita, as shall be sufficient to pay 
such persons of African descent before referred to as within 
ninety days after the passage o! such laws, rules and regulations 
shall elect to remove and actually remove from the said nations 
respectively. And should the said laws, rules and regulations 
not be made by the legislatures of the said nations respectively, 
within two years from the ratification of this treaty, then the 
said sum of three hundred thousand dollars shall cease to be 
held in trust for the said Choctaw and Ckickasaw nations, and 
be held for use and benefit of such of said persons of African 
descent as the United States shall remove from the said terri- 
tory in such manner as the United States shall deem proper — 
the United States agreeing, within ninety days from the expira- 
tion of the said twovears, to remove from said nations all such 



198 EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS. 

persons of African descent as maj^ be willing to remove ; those 
remaining or returning after having been removed from said 
nations to have no benefit of said sum of three hundred thou- 
sand dollars, or any part thereof, but shall be upon the same 
footing as other citizens of the United States in the said nations. 
Article 4. 
" The said nations further agree that all negroes, not other- 
wise disqualified or disabled, shall be competent witnesses in all 
civil and criminal suits and proceedings in the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw courts, any law to the contrary notwithstanding ; and 
they fully recognize the right of the freedmen to a fair remunera- 
tion on reasonable and equitable contracts for their labor, which 
the law should aid them to enforce. And they agree, on the 
part of their respective nations, that all laws shall be equal in 
their operation upon Choctaws, Chickasaws, and negroes, and 
that no distinction affectingthelatter shall at any time be made, 
and that they shalll be treated with kindness and be protected 
against injury ; and they further agree, that while the said freed- 
men, n( w in [the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations remain in 
said nations respectively, they shall be entitled to as much land 
as they may cultivate for the support of themselves and fami- 
lies, in cases where they do not support themselves and families 
by hiring, not interfering with existing improvements without 
the consent of the occupant, it being understood that in the 
event of the making of the laws, rules, and regulations afore- 
said, the forty acres aforesaid shall stand in place of the land 
cultivated as last aforesaid." 

On the 14th of June, 1866, the Creek IN'ation con- 
cluded a treaty, the second article of which reads : 

" The Creeks hereby covenant and agree that henceforth neith- 
er slavery nor involuntaiy servitude, otherwise than in the 
punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been du- 



EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS. 199 

ly convicted in accordance with laws applicable to all members 
of said tribe, shall ever exist in said nation ; and inasmuch as 
there are among the Creeks man}' persons of African descent, 
who have no interests in the soil, it is stipulated that hereafter 
these persons lawfully residing in said Creek country under 
their laws and usages, or who have been thus residing in said 
country, and may return within one year from the ratification 
of this treaty, and their descendants and such others of the same 
race as may be permitted by the laws of the said nation to set- 
tle within the limits of the jurisdiction of the Creek Nation as 
citizens [thereof,] shall have and enjoy all the rights and privi- 
leges of native citizens, including an equal interest in the soiJ^ 
and national funds, and the laws of the said nation shall be e- 
qually binding upon and give equal protection to all such per- 
sons; and all others, of whatsoever race or color, who may be 
adopted as citizens or members of said tribe. 

The treaty made with the Cherokee ]!^ation July 
19th, 1866, relating to the emancipation of their slaves, 

sets forth that : 

Article 4. 

" All the Cherokees and freed persons who were formerly 
slaves to any Cherokee, and all free negroes not having been 
such slaves, who resided in the Cherokee nation prior to June 
ist, 1861, who may within two years elect not to reside north- 
east of the Arkansas river and southeast of Grand river, shall 
have the right to settle in and occupy the Canadian district 
southwest of the Arkansas river, and also all that tract of coun- 
tty lying northwest of Grand river, and bounded on the south- 
east by Grand river and west by the Creek reservation to the 
northeast corner thereof ; from thence west on the north line 
of the Creek reservation to the ninety-sixth degree of west long- 
itude ; and thence north on said line of longitude so far that a 
line due east to Grand river w\\\ includeaquantity of land equal 



200 EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS. 

to i6o acres for each person who may so elect to reside in the 
territory above described in this article: Provided, That that 
part of said district north of the Arkansas river shall not be set 
apart until it shall be found that the Canadian district is not 
sufficiently large to allow one hundred and sixty acres to each 
person desiring to obtain settlement under the provisions of 
the article. 

Article 9. 
The Cherokee nation having, voluntarily, in February, 1863, 
by an act of their national council, forever abolished slavery, 
hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either 
slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their nation otherwise 
than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted, in accordance with laws applicable to all 
the members of said tribe alike. They further agree that all 
freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their 
former owners or by law, as well as all free colored persons who 
were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and 
are now residents therein, or who may return within six months, 
and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Chero- 
kees : Provided, That owners of slaves so emancipated in the 
Cherokee nation shall never receive any compensation or pay 
for the slaves so emancipated. 

Article 10. 
Every Cherokee and freed person resident in the Cherokee 
nation shall have the right to sell any products of his farm, in- 
cluding his or her live stock, or any merchandise or manufac- 
tured products, and to ship and drive the same to market with- 
out restraint; paying any tax thereon which is now or may be 
levied by the United States on the quantity sold outside of the 
Indian territory," 



EMANCIPATION BY THE INDIANS, 



201 



By these treaties the last vestige of slavery in the 
United States and among the civilized tribes was wip- 
ed out, leaving whatever remained of the institution 
with the uncivilized tribes along the frontier, and 
with these there cannot be but a few ITegro slaves, if 
indeed there are any. 




[M] 



D 



m^\?J[m\ ^I[0CLAMAT10NS, 



THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

OF Sept. 22nd, 1862. 



" I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of 
America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy there- 
of, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter as heretofore 
the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring 
the constitutional relation between the United States and the 
people thereof in those States in which that relation is, or may 
be, suspended or disturbed ; that it is my purpose upon the next 
meeting of Congress to again recommend the adoption of a 
practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance 
or rejection of all the slave States, so-called, the people whereof 
may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and 
which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter 
may voluntarily adopt, the immediate or gradual abolishment 
of slavery within their respective limits, and that the effort to 
colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon 
the continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained con- 
sent ot the Government existing there, will be continued ; that 
on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty three, all persons held as slaves 
within any State, or any designated part of a State, the people 
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the LInited States, 
shall be then, thenceforward and forever, free, and the executive 
Government of the United Plaice, including the military and 
naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom 
of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such 
person, or any of them, in any efiforts they may make 
for their actual freedom : that the Executive will, on the first 



EMANCIPATION PKOCLAMATION. 205 

day of January, aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States 
and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respect- 
ively shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and 
the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day 
be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United 
States by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a ma- 
jority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, 
shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be 
dfeemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people 
thereof have not been in rebeUion against the United States. 
■' That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled 
" An act to make an additional article of war, " approved March 
13, 1 862. and which act is in the words and figures following: 

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America, in Co7tgress assembled, That here- 
after the following shall be promulgated as an additional article 
of war for the government of the army of the United States, and 
shall be observed and obeyed as such . 

" ' Article—, All officers or persons of the military or naval 
Service of the United States are prohibited from employing any 
of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose 
of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have es- 
caped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed 
to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a 
court-martial of violating this article, shall be dismissed from 
the service. 

'• ' Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall 
take efTect from and after its passage, " 

"Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled, 
" An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, 
to seize and confiscateproperty of rebels, and for other purposes' 
approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and 
figures following: 



206 EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

'• ' Sec 9. And be it further enacted. That all slaves of 
persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the 
Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give 
aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking 
refuge within the lines of the army ; and all slaves captured from 
such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control 
of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such 
persons found on ( or being within,) any place occupied by rebel 
forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United 
States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free 
of their servitude and not again held as slaves. 

"'Sec. 10. And be it further enacted. That no slave es- 
caping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, 
from any of the States, shall be delivered up, or in any way im- 
peded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some off- 
ence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive 
shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or ser- 
vice of such fugitive is alleged to be due, is his lawful owner, and 
has not been in arms against the United States in the present 
rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto ; 
and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the 
United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to 
decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service 
or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person 
to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service, " 
" And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons en- 
gaged in the military and naval service of the United States to 
observe, obey and eriforce within their respective spheres of ser- 
vice the act and sections above recited. 

" ' And the executive will in due time recommend that all 
citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal there- 
to throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the 
constitutional relation between the United States and their re- 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 207 

spective states and people, if the relation shall have been sus" 
pended or disturbed ) be compensated for all losses by acts of the 
United States, including the loss of slaves. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-second day 
of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- 
dred and sixty two, and of the Independence of the United 
States the eighty-seventh. 

" By the President; Abraham Lincoln. 

" Wi\i. H. Seward, Secretary of State, " 



PROCLAMATION OF JANUARY FIRST, 1863. 

" Whereas ; on the twenty-second day of September, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a 
proclamation was issued by the President of the United States 
containing, among other things, the following, to wit: 

" That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as 
slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the peo- 
ple whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, 
shall be then, thenceforth and forever free, and the Exe- 
cutive Government of thelUnited States, including the military 
and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such 
persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their 
actual freedom, 

" That the Executive will, on the first day of January- afore- 
said, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States 
if any, in which the people therein respectively shall then be in 
rebellion against the United States, and the fact that any State or 
the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represent- 



208 EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

ed in the Congress of the United States by members chosen 
thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters 
of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of 
strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence 
that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion 
agaist the United States. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the Uni- 
ted States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander- 
in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of 
actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government of 
the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for sup- 
pressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.- and in 
accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaim for the 
full period of one hundred days from the day of the first above- 
mentioned order, and designate, as the States and parts of 
States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in 
rebellion against the United States, the following to wit ; Arkan- 
sas, Texas, Louisiana, except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palque- 
mines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, 
Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St, Martin, and 
Orleans, including the City of New Orleans, Mississipi, Alaba- 
ma, Forida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Vir- 
ginia, except the forty-eight counties designated as West Vir- 
ginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northamp- 
ton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk 
including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and which ex- 
cepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this procla- 
mation were not issued. 

" And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, 
I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said 
designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward 
shall be free ; and that the Executive Government of the Unit- 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 209 

ed States, including the Military and authorities thereof, will 
recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. 

" And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free 
to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense, and 
1 recommend to them, that in all cases, when allowed, they la- 
bor faithfully for reasonable wages. 

" And I further declare and make known that such persons 
of suitable condition will be received into the armed service cjf 
the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and oth- 
er places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

" And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice 
warranted by the Constitution, and upon military necessity, I 
invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious 
favor of Almighty God. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set ni}- hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this first 
day of Januar}', in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the In- 
[l. S. ] dependence of the United States of America the 
eighty-seventh. 
" By the President; Abraham Lincoln. 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. " 



RATIFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT. 

William H. Seward, 
Secretary of State of The United States, 

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY GOME, GREETING : 

Know ye, that whereas the Congress of the U nited 
States on the Ist of February last, passed a resolution 
which is in the words following, namely : 

"A Resolution sub7nitting to the Legislatures of the several States 
a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States. 

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Reprcsenatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, {two-thirds of 
both houses concttrring,) That the following article be propos- 
ed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States, which when ratified 
by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all in- 
tents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely : 
Article XIII. 

"Section I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
cept as a punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have beea 
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place 
subject to their jurisdiction. 

"Section 2 . Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. " 

And whereas, it appears from official documents on 
file in this Department that the amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States proposed, as aforesaid, 
has been ratified by the legislatures of the States of Il- 
linois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, 
West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachussetts, Penu- 



RATIFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT. 211 

sylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, 
Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Caroli- 
na, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia; in all twen- 
ty-seven States: 

And whereas the whole number of States in the Uni- 
ted States IS thirty-six; and whereas the before spec- 
ially-named States, whose legislatures have ratified the 
said proposed amendment, constitutes three-fourths of 
the whole number of States in the United States : 

Now, therefore, be it known that I, William H. 
Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, by 
virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the 
act of Congress, approved the twentieth of April, eigh- 
teen hundred and eighteen, entitled "An act to provide 
for the publication of the laws of the United States and 
for other purposes," do hereby certify that the amend- 
ment aforesaid has become valid, to all intents and pur- 
poses, as a part of the Constitution of the United States. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused the seal of the Department of State to be af- 
fixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this eighteenth day 

of December, in the year of our Lord one thou- 

(L. S.) sand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of 

the Independence of the United States of 

America the ninetieth, 

William H. Seward, 
Secretary of State. 



212 



RATIFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT. 



E.ATJFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT BY THE STATES. 



Alabama December 2nd, 

Arkansas April 20, 

^California December 20, 

Connecticut May 5, 

^Florida December 28, 

Georgia December 9, 

Illinois February i, 

Indiana February 16, 

*Iovva January 24, 

Kansas February 7, 

Louisiana February i'/, 

Maine February 7, 

Maryland February 3, 

Massachusetts . .February 8, 

Michigan February 2, 

Minnesota February 23, 

Missouri February 10, 

Nevada ... . February 16, 

New Hampshire July i, 

*New Jersey January 23, 

New York February 3, 

North Carolina' December 4, 

Ohio February 10, 

*Oregon December 1 1, 

Pennsylvania February 8, 

Rhode Island February 2, 

South Carolina November 1 3, 

Tennessee April 7, 

Vermont March 9, 

Virginia February 9, 

West Virginia February 3, 

Wisconsin March i, 

Texas February 1 8. 

of State, Seward, issued bis 



865 
865. 
865 
865 
865 
862 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
895 
865 
865 
866 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
865 
870 



Secretary of State, Seward, issued bis procla- 
mation on tbe 18tb of December, 1865, at which time, 
only twenty seven states bad certified their ratification. 
Oregon ratified on the lltb of December, but probably 



RATIFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT. 213 

too late tor the official notification to reach Washing- 
ton. The other states are marked (*) showing clear- 
ly that they were too late to be counted, though enough 
had already ratified to justiry the Secretary of State in 
issuing the proclamation as required by law. 

EMANCIPATED. 

The following Table shows the number of slaves 

freed. 

Alabama 435,080 

Arkansas 111,115 

Delaware . i ,798 

Florida.. 61,745 

Georgia 462, 1 98 

Kansas. 2 

Kentucky , 225,483 

Louisiana 331,726 

Maryland 87,189 

Mississippi 436,631 

Missouri 114,931 

Nebraska 15 

•■'New Jersey 18 

North Carolina 33i.o59 

South Carolina 402,406 

Tennessee 275,719 

Texas 1 82,566 

Virginia 490,865 

District of Columbia 3.185 

Territory of Utah 29 

By the Indians '. 12,606 



Total 3,966,366 

St, Domingo 800,000 

Gaudaloupe 85,000 

Columbia 900,000 

*Nevv Jersey — These were eigbleen apprentices for life, freed by 
XIII am.;ndnent. 



214 SLAVES FREED. 

Cape colony 30,000 

Jamaica 33''Ooo 

Antigua 30,000 

Russia 23,000,000 

Israelites, including women and childr'n 2,500,000 

Indians in Spain 700 

Porto Rica 35.000 

India 1,500,000 






Declaratioi? of IndependeRce 



ANT) THE 



(Sonstitutioi] of the United States, 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.— 1776. 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. 
The UnantJiious Declaration of tlic thirteen U. S. of America. 



When, in the course of human events, it becomes neces- 
sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have 
connected them with anotner, and to assume among the Pow- 
ers of the earth, the separate aud equal station to which the 
Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent re- 
spect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should de- 
clare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable Rights ; that among these are Life, Liberty, and 
the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Gov- 
rnmants are instituted anDi^ Mil, darivln^ th^ir just p^vvars 
from the consent of the governed ; That whenever any Form 
of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 
new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and 
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most 
likely to efifect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, 
will dictate that Governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all ex- 
perience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to sufTer, 
while evils are sufYerable, than to right themselves by abolish- 
ing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long 
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 
Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despo- 
tism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Govern- 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 21 T 

merit, and to provide new Guards for their future security. 
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies ; and * 
such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their 
former systems of Government. The history of the present 
King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usur- 
pations, all having in direct object the establishment of an ab- 
solute Tyranny over these States. To prove this let facts be 
submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his Assent to Laws the most wholesome 
and necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 
till his Assent should be obtained ; and when so suspended, he 
has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation 
of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish 
the right of Representation in the Lagislature. a right inestima- 
ble to them and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
uncomfortable and distant from the depository of their Public 
Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for 
opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of 
the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to 
cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, in- 
capable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large 
for their exercise ; the State remaining in the meantime expos- 
ed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions 
within. 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these 
States ; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization 

[N] 



218 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Qi Foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage their migra- 
tion hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations 
of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refus- 
ing his Assent to Laws for estabhshing Judiciary Powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the 
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their 
salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither 
swarms of Officers to harass our People and eat out their sub- 
stance. 

He has kept among us, jn times of peace. Standing Armies 
without the Consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and 
superior to the Civil Power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction 
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; 
giving his Assent to their acts of pretended Legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment 
for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants 
of these States : 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent : 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by 
Jury ; 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended 

offences. 

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neigh- 
bouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitary government, 
and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an ex- 
ample and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule 
into these Colonies : 



I 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 2l9 

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most vahia- 
ble Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Govern- 
ment : 

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring them- 
selves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases what- 
soever. 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of 
his Protection, and waging War against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burned our 
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mer- 
cenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyran- 
ny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy 
scarcel}' paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally un- 
worth}^ the Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captives on 
the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become 
the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall them- 
selves by their Hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us, and has 
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the 
merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an 
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 
In every stage of these oppressions We have Petitioned for 
Redress in the most humble terms : Our repeated Petitions have 
been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose char- 
acter is thus marked by every act which may deiine a Tyrant, 
is unfit to be the ruler :>i a free People. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our Brittish 
brethren. We have been warned from time to time of attempts by 
their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over 
us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our 



220 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their 
native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by 
the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
which would inevitably interrupt our connections and corres- 
pondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and 
of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the neces- 
sity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we 
hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of 
America, in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Su- 
preme Judge of the world for the rectitikde of our intentions, do 
in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Col- 
onies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies 
are, and of right ought to be. Free and Independent. States ; 
That they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British 
Crown, and that all political connection between them and the 
State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; 
and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power 
to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Com- 
merce, and to do other Acts and Things which Independent 
States may of right do. And for the support of this Declara- 
tion, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Provi- 
dence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our For- 
tunes and our sacred Honour. 

John Hancock, 

President. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Josiah Bartlett, 
Wm. Whipple, 
Matthew Thornton. 

MASSACHUSETTS RAY. 

Samuel Adams, I Roger Sherman, 

John Adams, I Samuel Huntington, 

Robt. Treat Paine, | Wm. Williams. 

Eldridge Gerry. Oliver Wolcott. 



RHODE ISLAND. 

Step. Hopkins, 
William Ellery. 



CONNECTICUT. 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 



221 



NEW YORK. 

Wm. Floyd, 
Phil. Livingston, 
Frans. Lewis, 
Lewis Morris. 

NEW JERSEY. 

Richd. Stockton, 
Jno. Witherspoon. 
Fras. Hopkinson. 
John Hart, 
Abra. Clark. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Robt. Morris, 
Benjamin Rush, 
Benja. Franklin. 
John Morton, 
George Clymer, 
]as. Smith, 
Geo. Taylor, 
James Wilson. 
Geo Ross.. 

DELAWARE. 

Caesar Rodney, 
George Read, 
Tho. McKean. 



MARYLAND. 

Samuel Chase, 
Wm. Paca, 
Thos. Stone, 
Charles Carroll of CaroU- 
ton. 

VIRCINL^, 

George Whyte, 
Richard Henry Lee. 
Th. Jefferson, 
Benja. Harrison, 
Thos. Nelson, Jr., 
Francis Liglitfoot Lee. 
Carter Braxton, 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

Wm. Hooper, 
Joseph Hewes, 
John Penn. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Edward Rutledge, 
Thos. Heyward, Junr., 
Thomas Lynch, Junr., 
Arthur Middleto'n. 

GEORGIA. 

Button Gwinnett, 
Lyman Hall, 
George Walton. 



CONSTITUTION 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

WITH AMENDMENTS. 



We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquil 
ity, provide for the common defence, promote the general 
Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves 
and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitu- 
tion for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I. 

Section i. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be 
vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist 
of a Senate and House ot Representatives 

Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be com- 
posed of Members chosen every second Year by the People 
of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have 
the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous 
Branch of the State Legislature. 

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have 
attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years 
a Citizen of the United States, and who s^all not,- when elected, 
be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned 
among the several States which may be included within this 
Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be 
determined by adding to the whole Number of free Peisons, in- 
cluding those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and exclu- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 223 

ing Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The ac- 
tual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the 
first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within 
every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they 
shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not 
exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have 
at Least one Representative ; and until such enumeration shall 
be made, tne State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three, Masssachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey 
four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia 
ten. North Carolina five. South Carolina five, Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any 
State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of E- 
lection to fill such vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker 
and other Officers ; and shall have the sole Power of Impeach- 
ment. 

Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be 
composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Leg- 
islature thereof, for six Years ; and each Senator shall have one 
Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence 
of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be 
into three Classes, The seats of the Senators of the first Class 
shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the 
second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the- 
third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one- 
third may be chosen every second Year ; and if Vacancies hap- 
pen by Resignaton, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Leg- 
islature of any State, the Executive thereof may make tempo- 
rary Appointments until ttie next Meeting of the Legislature, 
which shall then fill such Vacancies. 



224 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained 
to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of 
the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an In- 
habitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President 
of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally 
divided. 

The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a 
President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, 
or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United 
States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeach- 
ments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath 
or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is 
tried, the Chief Justice shall preside : And no Person shall be 
convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Mem- 
ber present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachmennt shall not extend fur- 
ther than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold 
and enjoy any Office of honor. Trust or Profit under the United 
States ; but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and 
subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, accord- 
ing to Law. 

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding 
Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed 
in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may 
at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as 
to the Places of choosing Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, 
and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, 
unless they shall by Law appoint a difl^^erent Day. 

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elec- 
tions, Returns and OualiScations of its own Members, and a 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 225 

Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business ; but 
a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be 
authorized to compel the Attendence of absent Members, in 
such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may pro- 
vide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, 
punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the con- 
currence of two-thirds, expel a member. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and 
from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as 
may, in their Judgment, require Secrecy; and the Yeas and 
Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at 
the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the 
Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, with- 
out the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, 
nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall 
be sitting. 

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall re- 
ceive a Compensation for their services, to be ascertamed by 
Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They 
shall, in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the 
Peace, be Privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at 
the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and re- 
turning from the same ; and for any Speech or Debate in either 
House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. 

No Senator or Represeetative shall, during the Time for 
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Ofhce under 
the Authority of the United States, which shall have been 
created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased 
during such time; and no person holding any Ofhce under the 
United States, shall be a Member of either House during his 
Continuance in Office. 



226 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate 
in the House of Representatives ; but the Senate may propose 
or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. 

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Represen- 
tatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be pre- 
sented to the President of the United States ; If he approve he 
shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to 
that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter 
the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to recon- 
sider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that 
House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with 
the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise 
be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, 
it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both 
Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names 
of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered 
on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall 
not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays ex- 
cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same 
shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the 
Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which 
Case it shall not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concur- 
rence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be ne- 
cessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented 
to the President of the United States ; and before the Same 
shall take EfTect, shall be approved by him, or being disapprov- 
ed by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limita- 
tions prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and 
collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts 
and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 227 

the United States; but all duties, Imposts and Excises shall be 
uniform throughout the United States; 

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States ; 

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among 
the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uni- 
form Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the Uni- 
ted States ; 

To coin Mone}', regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign 
Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures ; 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Se- 
curities and current Coin of the United States ; 

To establish Post Offices and post Roads ; 

To promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by- 
securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the ex- 
clusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries ; 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court ; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on 
the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations ; 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and 
make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water ; 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of 
Money to that LTse shall be for a longer Term than two Years ; 

To provide and maintain a Navy ; 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation ot the 
land and naval Forces ; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws 
of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions ; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Mi- 
litia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed 
in the service of the United States, reserving to the States res- 
pectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority 
of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by 
Congress ; 



228 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, 
over such District (not exceeding ten MiL-s square) as may, by 
Cession of particular Stales, ar.d the Acceptance of Congress, 
become the Seat of the Governrr.ent of the United States, and 
to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the 
Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall 
be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, 
and other needful Buildings; — And 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other 
Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the 
United States, or in any Department or Officers thereof. 

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Per- 
sons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to 
admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the 
Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty 
may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dol- 
lars for each Person . 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the 
Public Safety may require it. 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

No Capitation, or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in 
Proportion to the Census or Enumeration hereinbefore directed 
to be taken. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from 
any State. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Com- 
merce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of 
another ; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be 
obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. 

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Con- 
sequence of Appropriations made by Law ; and a regular State- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATEg^ 229 

ment and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all 
public Money shall be published from time to time. 

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the Un ited States • 
And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under 
them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any 
present. Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, 
from any King, Prince, or foreign State. 

Section io. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alli- 
ance, or Confederation ; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal ; 
coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold 
and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts ; pass any Bill 
of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obliga- 
tion of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay 
any Imports or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may 
be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws ; and 
the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State 
on Imports or Exports, shall he for the Use of the Treasury of 
the United States ; and all such Laws shall be subject to the 
Revision and Control of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any 
Duty on Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of 
Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another 
State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actual- 
ly invaded, or in such eminent Danger as will not admit of delay. 
ARTICLE II. 

Section i. The executive Power shall be vested in a 
President of the United States of America. He shall hold his 
Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the 
Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows ; 
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legisla- 
ture may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Num- 
ber of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be 



230 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

entitled in the Congress : but no Senator or Representative, or 
Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United 
States shall be appointed an Elector. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote 
by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an 
Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall 
make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number 
of Votes for each ; which List they shall sign and certify, and 
transmit to the Seat of the Government of the United States, 
directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the 
Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then 
be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes 
shall be the President, if such Nun.ber be a Majority of the 
whole Number of Electors appointed ; and if there be more 
than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number 
of Votes, then the He use of Representatives shall irpmediately 
choose by Ballot one of them for President ; and if no Person 
have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said 
House shall in like Manner choose the President. But in choos- 
ing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Rep- 
resentation from each State having one Vote ; A quorum for 
this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two 
thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be 
necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the 
President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of 
the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should 
remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall 
choose from them by Ballot the Vice President. 

The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Elec- 
tors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes ; which 
Day shall be the same throughout the United States. 

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 231 

United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, 
shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any 
person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained the 
Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident 
within the United States. 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of 
his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers 
and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the 
Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the 
Case of Removal. Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the 
President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then 
act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, 
until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be 
elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Servi- 
ces, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased or di- 
mished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, 
and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolu- 
ment from the United States, or any of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take 
the following Oath of Affirmation : — " I do solemnly swear (or 
affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of 
the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, 
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'' 

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief 
of the Army and Navy of the United States, when called into 
the actual service of the United States ; he may require the 
Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the exec- 
utive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of 
their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Re- 
prieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, ex- 
cept in Cases of Impeachment. 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent 



232 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the 
Senators present concur ; and he shall nominate, and by and 
with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Am- 
bassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the 
Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, 
whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and 
shall be established by law : but the Congress may by Law vest 
the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think 
proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the 
Heads of Departments. 

The President shall have power to till up all Vacancies that 
may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting 
Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Ses- 
sion. 

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Con- 
gress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend 
to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge neces- 
sary and expedient ; he may. on extraordinary occasions, con- 
vene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagree- 
ment between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, 
he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper ; 
he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers : 
he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, ;.nd 
shall Commission all the Officers of the United States. 

Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil 
Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office 
. on Impeachment for, and Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or 
other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section i. The Judicial Power of the United States, shall 

be vested in one supreme Court, and in sucli inferior Courts as 

the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The 

Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 233 

Offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, re- 
ceive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be 
diminished during their Continuance in Office. 

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases 
in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws 
of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under their Authority ; — to all Cases affecting Ambassa- 
dors, or public Ministers and Consuls ; to all Cases of Admiral- 
ty and maritime Jurisdiction ; — to Controversies to which the 
United States shall be a Party ; — to Controversies between two 
or more States ; — between a State and a Citizen of another 
State ; — between Citizens of different States,- between Citizens 
of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different 
States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and for- 
eign States, Citizens or Subjects. 

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers 
and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a Party, the 
supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the oth- 
er Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have ap- 
pellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such 
Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall 
maki' 

1 he Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, 
shall be by Jury ; and such Trial shall be held in the State 
where the said Crimes shall have been committed ; but when 
not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such 
Place Or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. 

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall con- 
sist only in levying War against them or in adhering to their 
Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be 
convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Wit- 
nesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open 
Court. 



234 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punish- 
ment of Treason, but no Attainder oi Treason shall work Cor- 
ruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the 
Person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each 
State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of 
every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws 
prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Pro- 
ceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. 

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to 
all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several 
States. 

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or 
other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in anoth- 
er State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the 
State from which he fled, be delivered up to the State having 
Jurisdiction of the Crime. 

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the 
Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of 
any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Ser- 
vice of Labor, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the party 
to whom such Service or Labour may be due. 

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress 
into the Union ; but no new State shall be formed or erected 
within the Jurisdiction of any other State ; nor any State be 
formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of 
States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States 
concerned as well as of the Congress, 

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all 
needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or oth- 
er Property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in 
this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 235 

Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. 

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every 
State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and 
shall protect each of them against Invasion ; and on A[)plica- 
tion of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legisla- 
ture cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. 

ARTICLE V. 
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall 
deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitu- 
tion, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of 
the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amend- 
ments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and 
Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Leg- 
islatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conven- 
tions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of 
Ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; Provided that 
no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One 
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect 
the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Ar- 
ticle ; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived 
of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, be- 
fore the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be valid against 
the United States under this Constitution as under the Confed- 
eration. 

This Constitution and the Laws of the United States which 
shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or 
which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, 
shall be the supreme Law of the Land ; and the Judges in every 
State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or 
Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. 



236 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and 
the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive 
and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the sev- 
eral States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support 
the Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as 
a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United 
States. 

ARTICLE VIL 
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be 
sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between 
the States so ratifying the Same. 

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States 
present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of 
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven 
and of the Independence of the United States of America 
the Twelfth. In Witness whereof We have hereunto sub- 
scribed our Names, 

Go: WASHINGTON,— 
Presidt. and deputy fro7n Virginia. 



New Hampshire. 
John Langdon 
Nicholas Gilman. 

Massachusetts. 
Nathaniel Gorham, 
Rufus King. 

Connecticut. 
Wm. Sam'l Johnson, 
Roger Sherman. 

New York. 
Alexander Hamilton. 

New Jersey. 
Wil : Livingston, 
David Brearley, 
Wm. Paterson, 
Jona : Dayton. 



Pennsylvania. 
B. Franklin, 
Thomas Mifflin, 
Robt. Morris, 
Geo. Clymer, 
Thos. Fitzsimons, 
Jared Ingersoll, 
James Wilson, 
Gouv. Morris. 



Delaware. 
Geo : Read, 

Gunning Bedford, Jun. 
John Dickinson, 
Richard Bassett, 
Jaco : Broom. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



237 



Maryland. 
James McHenry, 
Dan of St Thos. Jenifer, 
Dan'l. Carroll. 

ViRGIMA. 

John Blair, 
James Madison Jr. 

North Carolina. 
Wm. Blount, 
Richd. Dobbs Spaight, 
Hu Williamson. 



South Carolina. 

J. Rutlege, 

C. Cotesworth Pinckney, 
Charles Pinckney, 
Pierce Butler. 

Georgia. 
William Few, 
Abr. Baldwin. 

Attest, William Jackson, 

Secretary. 



ARTICLES. 

in addition to and amendment of 
The Constitution of the United States of America, 
ARTICLE I. 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging 
the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the peo- 
ple peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a 
redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II. 
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of 
a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms 
shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE III. 
No Soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any 
house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but 
in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and 



238 AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION. 

seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but 
upon probable cause, supported by Oath or Affirmation, and 
particularl}' describing the place to be searched, and the persons 
or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or other- 
wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of 
a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, 
or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or pub- 
lic danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same ofifence 
to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be com- 
pelled in any Criminal Case to b^ a witness against himself, nor 
be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of 
law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without 
just compensation. 

ARTICLE VL 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the 
right to speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the 
State and district wherein the crime shall have been commit- 
ted, which district shall have been previously ascertained by 
law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusa- 
tion; to be confronted with witnesses against him; to have 
compulsory [irccess for obtaining Witnesses in his favor, and to 
have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 
ARTICLE VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy 
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be 
preserved and no fact tried by a jury shall be othewise re-ex- 
amined in any Court of the United States, than according to 
the rules of common law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines im- 
posed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 



AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION. 239 

ARTICLE IX. 

The cnumeralion in this Constitution, of certain rights, 
shall not be construed to deny )r disparage others retained by 
the people. 

ARTICLE X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con- 
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the 
States respectively or to the people. 

ARTICLE XI. 
The Judicial power of the LTnited States shall not be con- 
strued to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or 
prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of an- 
other State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. 

ARTICLE XII. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote 
by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom at 
least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with them- 
selves ; they shall name in their ballots the persons voted for as 
President, and of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of 
the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and 
certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the 
United States, directed to the President of the Senate ; The 
President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes 
shall then be counted ; — The person having the greatest num- 
ber of votes for President, shall be the President, if such num- 
ber be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and 
if no person have such majority, then from the persons having 
the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted 
for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose im- 
mediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the Pres- 
dent, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation 



240 AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION. 

from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose 
shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the 
States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose 
a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the 
Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death 
or other constitutional disability of the President. The person 
having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be 
the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, 
then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall 
choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall 
consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a 
m.ajority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 
But no person constitutionally ineligible to that of President 
shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United 
States. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
cept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or 
any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this ar- 
cle by appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United 
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the 
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State 
shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges 
or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any 
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law ; nor deny to any person within its jurisdic- 
diction the equal protection of the laws. 



AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION. 241 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the 
several States according to their respective numbers, counting 
the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians 
not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the 
choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the Unit- 
ed States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judi- 
cial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature there- 
of, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, be- 
ing twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, 
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or 
other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced 
in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall 
bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of 
age in such State. 

Section 4. No person shall be a Senator or Representa- 
tive in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or 
hold any office, civil ormilitar)^, under the United States, or un- 
der any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a mem- 
be of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a 
member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial 
officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United 
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against 
the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House remove 
such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the Unit- 
ed States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for pay- 
ment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insur- 
rection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the 
United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or 
obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against 
the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of 
any slave ; but all such debts, obligations and_claiins shall be 



242 AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION. 



('Y^J 






held illegal and void, 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by- 
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to 
vote shali^not be denied or abridged by the United States or by 
any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce 
this article by appropriate legislation. 




^^Or>r^ 



